Title: Unlimited Access
Author(s): Brown, Jeffrey, Daniel Hess, and Donald Shoup
Published: 2001 by Transportation, Vol. 28, No. 3, August, pp. 233-267. (Reprinted in shortened form in Access, No. 19, Fall, pp. 40-41.)
Online Access: http://its.ucla.edu/research/UA/UA.pdf
Abstract: Universities and public transit agencies have together invented an arrangement called Unlimited Access that provides fare-free transit service for over 825,000 people. The university typically pays the transit agency an annual lump sum based on expected student ridership, and students simply show their university identification to board the bus. This paper reports the results of a survey of Unlimited Access programs at 35 universities. University officials report that Unlimited Access reduces parking demand, increases students access to the campus, helps to recruit and retain students, and reduces the cost of attending college. Transit agencies report that Unlimited Access increases ridership, fills empty seats, improves transit service, and reduces the operating cost per rider. Increases in student transit ridership ranged from 71 percent to 200 percent during the first year of Unlimited Access, and growth in subsequent years ranged from 2 percent to 10 percent per year. The universities average cost for Unlimited Access is $30 per student per year.
Category: Public Transit
See other articles by the author(s): Donald Shoup Daniel B. Hess Jeffrey Brown
Author(s): Brown, Jeffrey, Daniel Hess, and Donald Shoup
Published: 2001 by Transportation, Vol. 28, No. 3, August, pp. 233-267. (Reprinted in shortened form in Access, No. 19, Fall, pp. 40-41.)
Online Access: http://its.ucla.edu/research/UA/UA.pdf
Abstract: Universities and public transit agencies have together invented an arrangement called Unlimited Access that provides fare-free transit service for over 825,000 people. The university typically pays the transit agency an annual lump sum based on expected student ridership, and students simply show their university identification to board the bus. This paper reports the results of a survey of Unlimited Access programs at 35 universities. University officials report that Unlimited Access reduces parking demand, increases students access to the campus, helps to recruit and retain students, and reduces the cost of attending college. Transit agencies report that Unlimited Access increases ridership, fills empty seats, improves transit service, and reduces the operating cost per rider. Increases in student transit ridership ranged from 71 percent to 200 percent during the first year of Unlimited Access, and growth in subsequent years ranged from 2 percent to 10 percent per year. The universities average cost for Unlimited Access is $30 per student per year.
Category: Public Transit
See other articles by the author(s): Donald Shoup Daniel B. Hess Jeffrey Brown