Students will be able to carpool at two campus locations now.
Humber Sustainability Committee has partnered with Smart Commute to help people find someone to carpool with as well as have access to emergency ride home.
“The success of program is dependent on people signing up… but if we have a lot of people signed up, and they’re coming from all over the place, there’s a better chance that I’ll get connected to someone else because there are more people from the group [to carpool with],” says Lindsay Walker, office manager for Humber Sustainability.
Students and staff who live 30 minutes or more away from the North or Lakeshore campuses are eligible. During carpool week, Feb. 3 to Feb. 7, students and staff can visit a booth to see if they are eligible to participate in their area.
A survey conducted last September showed that 41 per cent of Lakeshore campus students are willing to carpool to campus. Seventy-two per cent of students said they would feel more encouraged to carpool if there’s a way to find suitable people for a carpool. The survey had responses from 3,780 students and 631 staff members.
Through this initiative, students can save money by splitting parking fees and gas and get to campus faster, compared to taking transit.
“I would love to see students get more involved in sustainability at Humber, right now it’s a college initiative but, as a student here, I’d like to see more students care about it and get involved in it,” says Amelia Velasco, member of Humber Sustainability committee.
The committee is working deciding what other projects it can set up on campus.
“The committee itself has great energy. Everybody has an interest in sustainability, and there are lots of ideas for things we can do. The challenge becomes narrowing them down to achievable initiatives we can deliver on, like the carpooling,” says Spencer Wood,co-chair of the sustainability committee.
In order to sign up for carpooling, students and staff will need to create a profile on Smart Commute. Lakeshore students can apply here.