UCD Travel Plan announced
By Eithne Dodd | Nov 29 2016
UCD have published a draft Travel Plan 2016-2021-2026 and are accepting student and staff feedback to be sent to commuting@ucd.ie on or before Wednesday, 30th of November. The ‘Smarter Travel Campus Partner’ in conjunction with the National Transport Authority, UCD aims to be an exemplar in sustainable development.UCD currently has over 28,000 students making over 7 million journeys to and from the campus every year. This number is expected to rise to 33,000 by 2021 and 35,000 by 2026.In the draft travel plan, Professor Andrew Deeks, President of UCD said: “the UCD Travel Plan is key to achieving more sustainable travel patterns associated with the University. It is also referenced as a specific objective of the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan 2016 - 2022.”The draft travel plan aims to increase cycling and walking to and from campus from 34% in 2016 to 38% by 2026 and reduce commutes by car from 24% currently to 17% by 2026. There has already been a 7% decrease in people driving to campus between 2010 and 2015.The implementation of the Travel Plan, once approved, will come from revenues collected from campus parking permits.Professor Michael Monaghan, Vice President for Campus Development said in an email sent out to UCD students: “as a community, we have to take responsibility for the impact of commuting, which is why we have prepared our first Travel Plan. The targets within the Travel Plan, if achieved, will ensure that UCD can continue to show leadership in sustainable travel and support the ongoing development of the University.”The draft Travel Plan outlines UCD’s targets, current travel statistics for the campus, the benefits of walking, cycling and using public transport to UCD and the range of services available to UCD commuters.