UNC-Chapel Hill was named a Best Workplace for Commuters for 2017. On Jan. 31 the Center for Urban Transportation Research announced the employers who earned the designation by meeting the National Standard of Excellence criteria with their employee commuter benefits. Carolina was one of 27 colleges and universities nationally and one of five in North Carolina to receive the designation.
Over 23 percent of employees commute to the University and UNC Hospitals by using transit, and over 10 percent of employees rideshare, bike or walk to work.
“Carolina is committed to helping commuters get to campus in sustainable ways that also address our parking limitations,” said Amanda Simmons, transportation demand manager for UNC-Chapel Hill. “We are one of the first public universities nationwide to look holistically at campus transportation demand management — promoting public transit, carpooling, vanpooling, bicycling, and walking — with the joint goals of reducing traffic and the need for parking, while improving air quality.”
Carolina provides commuter incentives for faculty, staff and students with the nationally recognized Commuter Alternative Program (CAP), designed to reward people who travel to campus by bus, bike, ridesharing, and walking. Over 1,600 employees currently receive a free bus pass through CAP to ride GoTriangle, PART, or Chatham Transit.
GoTriangle provides bus service throughout the Triangle, as well as Hillsborough. PART Express buses connect Guilford and Alamance counties to UNC-Chapel Hill, while Chatham Transit makes stops in Pittsboro and Siler City. All of these agencies provide free Park & Ride lots for their riders.
Carolina is also recognized as a Bicycle Friendly University by the League of American Bicyclists, which recognizes institutions of higher education for promoting and providing a more bikeable campus for students, staff and visitors.
To be designated among the nation’s Best Workplaces for Commuters, employers must provide benefits that result in at least 14 percent of their employees no longer driving alone to and from work within a 12-month period and must demonstrate that they meet the National Standard of Excellence. To achieve this standard, workplaces can choose from a wide variety of commuter-support programs such as subsidized transit or vanpool passes, compressed workweek schedules, or secured bicycle parking.
Learn more about healthy and sustainable transportation options provided by CAP at cap.unc.edu. Learn more about the Triangle office of the Best Workplace for Commuters, of which UNC-Chapel Hill is a member.