Mobility to the university campuses of the community of Madrid: Diagnosis and bases for a sustainability strategy

Abstract

The movements to the university campuses bring a challenge to the sustainability and public transportation. Taking into account the EDM2018 (home mobility survey of the Community of Madrid) an analysis of university mobility has been made in order to define global and specific strategies for this segment of recurring trips. The study perform, divides the survey data according to different type of users: students, workers (PAS) and teachers/researchers (PDI). Each of these groups have different socioeconomic profiles, work patterns and availability of their own vehicle, which conditions their daily mobility. Second, the different mobility patterns of the 14 Campuses of the 6 public universities in the region are compared. The results are clearly influenced by location variables (urban, metropolitan, isolated) and their accessibility by public transport. Therefore, a multiple causal relationship can be established between the above factors, which determine the modal distribution for each campus and each group. The variations are important, going from 78% of trips by public transportation made by students in urban campuses to 14% of trips by public transportation made by workers in isolated fields. The analysis methodology contrasts the previous results, based on the data obtained from the EDM2018 with the level of infrastructure and transport offer: car parks, entrances, railway stations and bus stops, and their accessibility to the campus. These analyzes make it possible to propose a series of recommendations to reduce car use and promote the use of collective transport. All of this will be part of the diagnosis for the development of Sustainable University Mobility Plans, which will be the second phase of this work.