Reducing the carbon footprint in college mobility: The car commuters' perspective in an Italian case study

Despite the negative environmental impact of private cars, especially when driven alone, thousands of college commuters around the World are still car dependent. In order to promote eco-friendly commuting and reduce the GHGs caused by cars, different Travel Demand Management (TDM) policies are in place at many colleges, but they do not usually consider the car commuters' point of view when identifying proper measures. In this paper, by using survey data from an Italian medium-size public university, we study what TDM policies are perceived by car users as the most effective in reducing the number of solo-drivers and consequently their carbon footprint. By estimating a multinomial logit model, we found that restrictive parking policies are statistically supported by female car commuters, students and employees belonging to science departments, and those who know that driving alone could impede alternative modes. Indeed, transit-oriented and multimodal options (including bikes) are chosen by faculty/staff car users, by users willing to leave their cars at home when the weather is good, and in general by people living in towns without railway stations. Instead, probably due to inadequate rail services, car users living in areas far from the college are weakly inclined to use transit-plus-bikes modes. Beyond improving TDM policies, these results can help mobility managers design localized tools to reduce the environmental impact of college commuting.