The planning and results of an innovative mobility and transportation program for the university of illinois at urbana-champaign, called the "i system, " are summarized. The i system integrates a new system of circulating campus bus routes with the existing regular routes of the local transit district. Both the campus and community routes are operated by the champaign-urbana mass transit district (cumtd). The i system is jointly funded by a mandatory student transportation fee, the university of illinois parking division, and state of illinois transit operating assistance. The primary component of the i system is that a valid student identification card becomes an unlimited access bus pass for both the system of new campus routes and the regular community-wide bus routes. This integrated system helps to combat congestion and parking problems by intercepting off-campus trips at the point of origin and providing access to dispersed university activity centers, in turn reducing the need for an automobile both for commuter trips to campus and intracampus trips. The resultsof the i system have been impressive; ridership for the cumtd has approximately doubled to 5.4 Million passenger trips per year. Because of the success of the i system and complementary transportation system management measures, demand for campus parking has been reducedby 1, 000 spaces. Consequently, $5 million worth of new parking garage construction has been postponed. The i system is effective because of the unique partnership that was forged between the students, the university administration, and the cumtd, which maximized the use of existing transportation resources. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1297, Public transit research: managementand planning 1991.
Abstract