Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Green Operated Transit Carrying Humanity Around (GOTCHA) rides is drawing more interest from students since it was established on campus last October. Georgia Tech is the fifth college campus to use the service.

Additionally, approximately two-thirds saw jumps in residents using public transit, while driving to work alone dropped in about two-thirds, or more than 200 metropolitan areas.

More commuting students and employees are seeking out alternative transportation methods such as public transit, carpooling, vanpooling, bicycling and walking to get to campus.

Because the services are subject to the full array of taxes imposed on traditional car rentals, the car sharing industry is experiencing losses.

The most popular way to get to the university is by bus, MAX train and Portland Streetcar, which together accounted for 44 percent of trips to campus by staff and faculty and 40 percent by students in fall 2010.

A shuttle service, subsidized by TriMet and the University, saw a record-breaking 5,000 riders in a four-month period ending in November. Meanwhile, the University recently acquired two more Zipcars to meet a spike in demand from students and faculty.

Research revealed that 45 percent of Millennials (ages 18 to 34) said they had consciously made an effort to reduce how much they drive and 64 percent would drive less if alternative options, including public transportation, car sharing or convenient carpooling (ridesharing), were available in their area.

The campaign is a friendly competition between students and employees to get as many campus commuters as possible to carpool, ride the ValleyRide bus, bike, walk or utilize some other form of transportation beyond a single occupant vehicle for an entire month.

Costing $166 million, the 14.7-mile Westside Express Service (WES) runs north from Wilsonville to Beaverton.