Concordia Working Group Promotes Sustainable Transportation

NewsThomas Dumont — Published September 23, 2014

But transportation choices students make have an impact on the environment. Allégo Concordia, a working group that is part of Sustainable Concordia, is helping them make eco-friendly ones.

Last year, the Office of Institutional Planning and Analysis conducted a survey on behalf of Allégo to assess the Concordia community’s commute to and from the school’s two campuses. It asked 1422 people—including students, faculty, and staff—about their transportation habits.

59.5 per cent said public transit (bus, metro, train) is their primary mode of transportation, 15.6 per cent said they walk and 11.2 per cent drive, according to the survey’s results. Meanwhile, only 8.4 per cent ride a bike to school.

According to Allégo, one of the biggest environmental problems that has to be addressed is single-occupant cars—people who drive to school alone. The group’s survey revealed that 3.9 per cent of commuters carpool “all the time” or “often.”

Part of the solution is finding those who are willing to commute together, the group says. Despite the benefits of sharing gas prices, there aren’t enough resources to help drivers and passengers meet, they added, noting that 37.2 per cent of people surveyed said they “can’t find anyone to carpool with.”

Though carpooling networks—on Kijiji, Facebook, Allo-Stop, and so on—exist, there are none specific to the Concordia community.

“One option is to continue the Allégo’s online rideshare board,” Stefan Schmidt, Allégo Concordia’s coordinator, told The Link. “Not that many people know that it exists, so it’s hard to get people involved. The system itself is pretty outdated.”

Schmidt says the school considered the possibility of developing or buying an app that could be used by those seeking to carpool, but the cost of maintaining the app would outweigh demand.

A majority of students, faculty and staff look to the Société de transport de Montréal for their commuter needs. While riding the metro or taking a bus is a great way of reducing carbon emissions and environmental impact, the cheaper and healthier alternative is to ride a bike, he said.

There are many community bicycle shops around Montreal that can be used to buy, repair or even build your own bike from custom parts. Concordia has its own bike co-op: Right to Move, located next to the parking lot behind the Hall Building.

“Concordia also offers bike parking for $30 per semester at the downtown campus. The pass also lets you take free showers at Le Gym,” Schmidt added.

Some people may be deterred from riding a bicycle in Montreal out of fear. The busy streets may be daunting to an inexperienced cyclist, but Schmidt believes that the fear comes from perceived risk rather than actual danger.

“Biking is generally just as safe as driving,” he says. “If you were to look at casualties per distance travelled, you’d see that you’re just as likely to get into a car accident as you would a bike accident.”

As an experienced cyclist, Schmidt even uses his bike to get around during the winter.

“Biking during the winter is not for everybody. Winter is a great time to rely on other sustainable ways of getting around, like the metro.”