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Parking Services Provides New Transportation Services to Combat Current Climate Issues

By September 5, 2017July 30th, 2020No Comments

Post contributed by Parking Services

Student riding a bike share bike on campus

A student uses one of the 150 War Eagle Bike Share bikes.

While the climate may not be at the forethought of everyone at Auburn University, Parking Services Director Don Andrae is in a position to identify problems with on campus transportation and implement creative solutions to better serve the Auburn Family and help the environment. One program that was introduced last year is the War Eagle Bike Share which provides free bicycle rental access to anyone with a smartphone. Our program utilized so much that we added more bikes and hubs during the summer to bring a total of 150 rentable bikes and 20 new hubs throughout the City of Auburn. With 3,000 registered bicycles on Auburn’s campus each year, we estimate 1,500 will be left at the end of the spring semester because students do not want them. “A lot of them (students) are not bikers; they just buy it to get around campus and that’s what this program is designed for –the ability to use the bikes when you need them” said Andrae. To learn more about our War Eagle Bike Share program, visit Sustainability’s feature blog post about our program to download the app and start riding today!

This summer we also reevaluated the available parking on Magnolia Street and South College Street as we have several academic buildings being constructed on this side of campus. In an effort to maximize the available spaces for employees whom work within these buildings, we have diligently worked in conjunction with Tiger Transit to provide a new shuttle service, the Employee Express. This free service is provided Monday through Friday when the University is operational with two fixed routes –Eagle and Tiger. With both routes we are able to ensure employees arrive at their destination in a timely manner while also reducing the number of vehicles operating on the North side of campus. This new program will decrease the amount of vehicles which results in a reduction of carbon gas that is emitted. We have listed the specific routes, the service phone number, as well as GPS coordinates to the West One parking lot where the shuttles pick-up employees on our website.

Graphic of War Eagle Express

With the War Eagle Express program, students can catch a quick ride to on-campus residence halls, dining venues, and parking lots.

One final new program we have implemented this year is an after-hours shuttle service for students that is free and will stop at on-campus residence halls, dining venues and student parking lots. The War Eagle Express carts are battery powered which does not add to the carbon gas that is emitted from traditional vehicles and further reduces the amount of vehicle traffic on roads surrounding campus. With this service students do not have to move their personal vehicles after 5:00 p.m. in order to access academic buildings after-hours to continue their academic achievements. Now they can dial the on-call number (855) 446-8242 and give the dispatcher their location on-campus and one of our War Eagle Express rides will pick them up and drop-off at one of the student parking lots! By reducing the number of cars moving after-hours on-campus in addition to the battery powered carts, we are eliminating carbon gas emitted from traditional vehicles and traffic congestion around campus while also providing our students a safe way to access campus after 5:00 p.m.

With the War Eagle Bike Share program, Employee Express shuttle service and War Eagle Express program, Parking Services at Auburn University is continually searching for unique solutions to daily problems that are experienced by the Auburn Family when accessing our campus while keeping in mind ways to reduce our impact on our planet and climate. For more information about any of our described programs, or questions about our department please feel free to contact our office by phone at (334) 844-4143, or email parking@auburn.edu. We also provide a free download to our Guidebook by searching “Parking Services” on the Auburn Guides app to receive up-to-date information from our department.

War Eagle!

 

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