More commuters are forgoing driving alone to UCLA compared to county-wide commuting trends.
UCLA reached its lowest drive-alone rate ever in 2018, according to a press release from UCLA Transportation. The employee drive-alone rate fell to 48.9% and the student drive-alone rate sits at 23%. These rates are lower than the Los Angeles County drive-alone rate of 76%. Taken together, the drive-alone rate of employees and students is about 37%.
The milestone was announced Oct. 1 with the start of National Rideshare Month, an annual occasion that encourages and celebrates commuting with public transit, car pools, van pools, biking and walking. A majority of student commuters use more environmentally friendly ride-sharing transportation options, according to the press release.
UCLA is participating in National Rideshare Month by collecting pledges from commuters to use ride-share options. Participants will be entered to win transportation-related prizes.
There were 63,887 commuters to UCLA in 2018, according to a UCLA Transportation report of the same year. Students and employees that carpool account for just 8.1% of those commuters, 23.8% walk, 20.7% take public transit, 3.5% bike, 2.1% vanpool and 5.2% use other forms of transportation, the report stated.
Commuters in a two-person carpool save about $580 per year in parking permit costs compared to commuters that drive alone and need to buy their own permit, according to the report. Three-person car pools save over $800 in permit costs.
About 12,000 people visit campus every day, said David Karwaski, senior associate director of UCLA Transportation, at a Westwood Village Improvement Association meeting. Around 2,300 students and 7,000 employees live in the San Fernando Valley, Karwaski added.
UCLA held a Rideshare Fair at Bruin Plaza on Oct. 3 to promote sustainable transportation options. A series of other on-campus events were also held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 to promote ride-share options.
