How the university community moves (Surveys)

The movements of the university community, which numbers around 70,000 people, are an important part of the road network in the municipalities where the University is located and have an impact on both the environment and the quality of life of people.

Sustainable mobility and scooter travel

The university community makes a significant number of sustainable scooter trips thanks to the agreements activated by the University and the application of subsidized rates reserved for it. The number of scooter rentals made under the agreement since March 2022 equals 150,000. Since then, a total of 30.000km have been covered, with an average distance traveled of 2 km.

The first survey on home-university travel

In 2018, the University promoted a first survey on home-university travel, with the aim of mapping the habits of the university community. It emerged that 87% of students use sustainable means, traveling to the University on foot, by bicycle or by public transport, while only 53% of staff use these types of means. The highest incidence of non-sustainable travel results in intermediate distances, from 10 to 20 km. For urban routes within 5-10 km, the bicycle remains the preferred means because it is faster and more flexible.

Mobility and COVID-19: how habits are changing

During 2020, a second survey was carried out through a questionnaire addressed to the entire university population. The data collected will allow to better understand the choices of movement and to evaluate the propensity of staff and student community towards some possible solutions and measures, also considering the COVID-19 emergency and its direct consequences on the organization of study and work activities. The data are still being processed.

From the analysis of the data it emerges that 90% of the home-university trips made by students in the pre-Covid phase were made on foot or by sustainable means (private bicycles, bike sharing, electric scooters, car sharing, car pooling, public transport) while only about 59% of employees used these types of means. However, it should be considered that the use of sustainable means by staff has increased by 5.8%.

It also emerges that, for all the people interviewed, sustainable means were used mainly for distances of up to 5 km with a duration of less than 15 minutes (typically done by bike or on foot).

With regard to the impact of the pandemic, it is interesting to note that a check of the propensity of staff to use means in a scenario of coexistence with COVID-19 reveals a drastic reduction of sustainable ones in favor of non-sustainable ones.

Students were instead asked to express their opinion on the use of online teaching beyond the emergency phase: the respondents were divided almost equally between those who are completely in favor (26%) and those who are absolutely against (28%). Also very similar were the percentages of those who were in favor of a use limited only to certain courses (25%) and those who were in favor of a more extensive use (21%).