University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Senior Theses Honors College Spring 2019 Steering Clear of Single-Occupancy Vehicles: Campus Transportation Demand Management Strategies for the University of South Carolina Reaghan Kelly Murphy University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/senior_theses Part of the Transportation Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Recommended Citation Murphy, Reaghan Kelly, "Steering Clear of Single-Occupancy Vehicles: Campus Transportation Demand Management Strategies for the University of South Carolina" (2019). Senior Theses. 303. https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/senior_theses/303 This Thesis is brought to you by the Honors College at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................. i List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. iii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... v Abstract ............................................................................................................................................1 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................2 2. Background ..................................................................................................................................4 2.1. Transportation Demand Management (TDM) & Sustainability ...........................................4 2.2. Sustainable TDM Integration on College Campuses............................................................6 2.3. Overview: The University of South Carolina......................................................................12 3. Methodology ..............................................................................................................................15 3.1. Rubric of Campus TDM Strategies .....................................................................................15 3.2. Selection of Universities for Comparison ...........................................................................19 4. Peer & Peer Aspirant Institutions ..............................................................................................23 4.1. Overview .............................................................................................................................23 4.2. Objectives Underlying Transportation Planning................................................................25 4.3. Preference for Infrastructure over Incentives.....................................................................28 4.4. Characteristics of Infrastructure-Based Strategies ............................................................30 4.5. Characteristics of Incentive-Based Strategies ....................................................................32 5. University of South Carolina .....................................................................................................36 5.1. Overview .............................................................................................................................36 5.2. Infrastructure-Based Strategies ..........................................................................................39 i 5.3. Incentive-Based Strategies ..................................................................................................44 6. Discussion of Findings ...............................................................................................................48 6.1. University of South Carolina: Areas of Achievement .........................................................48 6.2. University of South Carolina: Opportunities for Improvement ..........................................49 6.3. Recommendations ...............................................................................................................51 7. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................57 References ......................................................................................................................................58 Appendix ........................................................................................................................................62 ii List of Tables Table 1 ...........................................................................................................................................16 Table 2 ...........................................................................................................................................20 Table 3 ...........................................................................................................................................24 Table 4 ...........................................................................................................................................25 Table 5 ...........................................................................................................................................25 Table 6 ...........................................................................................................................................39 Table 7 ...........................................................................................................................................40 Table 8 ...........................................................................................................................................40 Table 9 ...........................................................................................................................................42 iii List of Figures Figure 1 ..........................................................................................................................................40 Figure 2 ..........................................................................................................................................43 Figure 3 ..........................................................................................................................................43 Figure 4 ..........................................................................................................................................52 Figure 5 ..........................................................................................................................................53 iv Acknowledgements This document would not be complete if I did not invest some time in thanking those who have supported this effort and made it possible. Firstly, I am immensely grateful for the guidance and support of my thesis director, Dr. Conor Harrison, who encouraged me when tasks were difficult, shared in my passions and frustrations, challenged me to challenge myself, and helped me believe I could write a senior thesis in the first place. I am also exceedingly grateful to Dr. Zhenlong Li, my second reader, whose support with the GIS-based components of my thesis and expertise in the classroom has been invaluable to me as a student and a future professional. This project could not have been completed without the collaboration and cooperation of several experts who helped me obtain the information that informed my conclusions. Within the University of South Carolina community, I have enormous gratitude for Derrick Huggins, V.P. for Facilities & Transportation, Roosevelt Barnwell, Director of Vehicle Management & Interim Director of Parking Services, and Derek Gruner, Campus Architect, all of whom provided detailed information about the state of transportation planning at the University of South Carolina and gave me a comprehensive introduction to the university’s transportation philosophy. Beyond the university, I’m also grateful to Leigh DeForth and Shane Shaughnessy of the City of Columbia Planning Department, who braved early meetings and lengthy email chains to provide me background information and data regarding Columbia’s transportation infrastructure; Luis Ortíz Sanchéz of the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority, who provided useful shapefiles of the Comet’s regional transit stops and routes; and the offices of several dozen off-campus apartment complexes, all of whose property managers informatively and kindly answered my phone calls about transit and bicycle storage. v Finally, I would not have been in a position to write this thesis — or even realize my passion for sustainable transportation planning — without my networks of personal and professional support. Thanks to Dr. Dwayne Baker for guiding me to my passion and helping me articulate it; to the University of South Carolina Geography Department and Honors College for offering stellar advisors and opportunities that allowed me to pursue my wildest dreams; to Pete Tereszkiewicz for providing invaluable insight on all my quandaries, from sustainability in transportation