Our initiatives - Transport
Cycling
CSU staff at Albury-Wodonga and Orange have worked with local councils to organise bike trails to these campuses. The Division of Facilities Management is also planning for more areas to secure bikes.
Each year, CSU Green encourages all staff and students to get involved in National Ride to Work Day. In 2011, we held the inaugural CSU Ride to Work Day Inter-School/Division Challenge. Check out the results here!
Public transport
Another alternative to driving to the University is to catch a bus. Timetable and route information for bus services at different campuses is available at the following websites:
- The Albury-Wodonga campus is serviced by Martin's Albury bus route 908: www.martinsalbury.com.au/
- The Bathurst campus is serviced by Buslines Group
- The Dubbo campus is serviced by Dubbo Buslines bus route 571: www.dubbobuslines.com.au
- The Wagga Wagga campus is serviced by a CSU bus service: www.csu.edu.au/division/finserv/students/timetable_bus. An easy way to pay for the CSU Wagga bus is using your CSU Card - you can add money to your card here.
Carpooling forum
Did you know that CSU has a car pooling forum? On it you can let people know of rides you can give or rides you need. The forum is designed both for day to day travel and for once-off trips. It had over 140 postings in the first 6 months of 2008. The forum manager advises forum posters to put the campus they are travelling to or from in the subject line, with more details in the message.
Transport auto fleet
As part of CSU's target of being carbon neutral by 2015, CSU's Transport section has increased the percentage of more efficient vehicles in the University fleet over the last two years. Now there are more hybrids, gas powered vehicles, high efficiency diesels and four-cylinder vehicles. To promote the use of these vehicles, users are charged less for the hire of efficient vehicles (for work purposes); e.g. $.25/km for a gas sedan, versus $.33 for a petrol sedan.
More details on the different charges are available at the Division of Finance Travel site: CSU Motor Vehicle Charges and Policy [.doc]
Transport also plan to implement a new online vehicle booking system, that will enable staff to arrange shared rides (and shared costs) for the many trips made between our campuses. Such carpooling could significantly lower our vehicle emissions.
What can you do?
Tips:
- Consider alternatives to driving to uni, such as riding the bus, walking or cycling.
- When driving, go easy on the acceleration and anticipate when you'll have to stop to reduce breaking.
- Unload the vehicle of excess weight.
- Organise to make less trips for more items.
Find more tips for fuel efficient driving http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/transport/fuelguide/tips.html - Offset the emissions that you cannot avoid.
Do you have practical suggestions to help reduce transport emissions? Voice your suggestions here!