U. offers financial incentives to mass transit riders

The University’s recently launched Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program will now provide monetary incentives for commuting faculty, staff and students to use mass transit.

The program, which was launched on March 2, represents a new effort by the Office of Transportation & Parking Services to reduce traffic and promote sustainability on campus.

“Our initial goal is to reduce vehicular traffic around campus, especially around rush hour,” TDM manager Andrea DeRose said. She explained that the TDM program is part of the University’s effort to achieve the environmental sustainability goal of reducing by 500 the number of single-occupancy vehicles going to and from campus by 2020.

According to the TDM program’s website, under its Mass Transit Subsidy Program, the University will subsidize 50 percent of the cost of monthly mass transit tickets purchased by University employees. The TDM program also provides the Rideshare Carpool Service, which matches members of the University community with other interested commuters to promote carpooling, and offers $25 gas cards to commuters who carpool two weeks out of every month over a three-month period.

This summer, DeRose added, Princeton plans to launch a “vanpool” program, in which the University would subsidize the costs of van rental for larger groups of carpoolers who find a willing driver. “We are only asking passengers to pay for fuel,” she said. “The incentive for the driver is that he doesn’t have to pay.”

The program is designed to promote the use of environmentally friendly commuting options, DeRose explained. “It gives incentives for individuals to take alternate forms of transportation,” she said, adding that the carpool program has already helped to reduce the number of vehicles on campus.

But visiting anthropology professor Janet Monge said the monetary incentives won’t outweigh the benefits of driving to campus for some commuters.

“Even without the subsidy, I would take the train, but it’s double the amount of time,” said Monge, a Philadelphia resident who is also an associate professor at Penn.

The Office of Human Resources has previously participated in a federal program that allowed employees to set aside pre-tax money from their paychecks to help cover transportation costs. Participants may be enrolled in both programs at the same time, according to the TDM program’s website.

“I especially appreciate how I can participate both in [Human Resource’s] reimbursement program and the subsidy program,” said Roblin Meeks, interim assistant director of the McGraw Center and a New York resident, in an e-mail. “Though commuting costs nowhere near as much as owning a car ... transportation costs do add up.”

Monge also noted the high cost of public transportation. “I would be taking two trains and the Dinky,” she explained. “It’s … $25 a day. That’s a lot of money.”

The program has already received positive feedback from commuters.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

“I’ve gotten the most attention from the Mass Transit Subsidy Program,” DeRose said. ”That has been a big hit from our guest faculty and lecturers from Philadelphia and New York, who spend a large portion of their income on transportation.”

But some University commuters said they weren’t aware of the existence of the TDM program. While Meeks said he found out about it in an e-mail from the University, Monge had not previously heard of the program.

DeRose said that her department has been publicizing the TDM program by speaking to different campus groups.

“We’ve done a lot of work on our website, putting up the forms necessary to [for] signing up for these programs,” she explained. “We will be doing more promotion now that we’ve gotten results.” She added that the program will also reach out to students and that she is currently working with Coach USA to get discounts on its bus lines.

The program doesn’t currently apply to all commuters. As of now, the University will only subsidize monthly transit tickets, so the restriction affects many University commuters who aren’t regularly on campus.

Gregory Sullivan, a part-time lecturer in the politics department who commutes from his law office in Hamilton, N.J., said that he is only on campus two days a week this semester. “I invariably drive my car,” he said in an e-mail. “I doubt I would use [the TDM program] ... My coming to and going from campus are too irregular.” He also noted that “fewer restrictions would undoubtedly make it more attractive to more people.”

Still, DeRose explained that the program is not yet ready to provide reimbursements for non-monthly passes. “We are in our infancy stages of launching the program,” she said. “It’s more efficient for our accounting department to only see one monthly ticket.”

Meeks commended the program’s environmental awareness though, adding, “The fact that New Jersey Transit can take me ... from New York directly onto campus makes the kind of commuting I do sustainable.”

But even those who cannot benefit from the program are trying to do their part for the environment. Monge, for one, explained, “I got a super-energy-efficient car.”