The President of Dublin City University, Professor Brian MacCraith, explains why they have joined the Smarter Travel Campus Programme, “Dublin City University has over 12,000 students and nearly 1,300 staff on the main campus site making it one of the largest generators of trips in north Dublin, accounting for circa 4 million journeys to and from its campus every year.
In our Strategic Plan 2012 – 2017, DCU has committed to the development and implementation of a comprehensive Sustainability Strategy. A core element of this sustainability strategy will focus on Transportation and, in particular, initiatives to reduce carbon emissions generated by our staff, students and visitors commuting to our campus.
We are conscious that moving from a single site campus to a multi-site campus over the coming year will significantly increase the total number of campus users and will also necessitate the movement of staff and students throughout the day across these sites.
DCU is delighted to engage with the National Transport Authority and their Smarter Travel Campus Programme. We look forward to building on the measures already implemented at DCU and working together with the Smarter Travel Campus team on the development of a sustainable transport plan promoting greener, safer and healthier commuting practices at DCU. ”
Since signing up DCU have engaged completely with the Smarter Travel programme, adjusting their campus to make Smarter Travel possible. Between 2016 and 2017 DCU increased the number of bus services coming onto their site from 17 to 25, thereby allowing more students and staff to move away from single-occupied cars to public transport. At the 2017 Smarter Travel Awards they were the winners of the Pubic Transport award. You can read how they achieved their goals here.