Transportation
Highlights
In 2023, Western added to its electric vehicle fleet, with two electric vans and a pickup truck, which are now in use around campus. Western is also considering building more electric charging stations for its growing electric vehicle fleet.
A Sustainability, Equity, and Justice Fund (SEJF)-funded grant project, "Campus Micromobility Counters," will fund the installation of three micromobility counters on major bike routes on Western’s main campus to collect data on biking and other types of micromobility. The goal of this project is to provide decision makers with the data necessary to understand current use patterns and determine how changes to programming and infrastructure can affect ridership.
In 2023, Western adopted new travel rules that require supervisors to adopt alternatives to plane travel for work purposes, including attending virtual conferences and meetings, and encouraging carpooling, train use, and public transportation. This is one of the many ways Western is working to meet its transportation-related greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.
Transportation, which includes commuting and air travel, went from creating 17% of WWU’s carbon emissions in 2013 to 26% of WWU’s emissions in 2023.
Student and employee air travel peaked in academic year 2018 at 14.5 million miles before sharply declining during the 2021 academic year which was during the peak of the COVID pandemic. In 2024, WWU students and employees flew approximately 9.7 million miles for university purposes.
