With Colorado State University ranked as a top school for sustainability and known as a green university, it is no surprise that there are many alternative transportation options offered to students.
Jacob Kimiecik, director of the Student Sustainability Center, said that as a leader in sustainability, CSU has to try and maximize transportation while minimizing resource use.
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Parking will also be limited next year, according to the Director of Environmental Affairs for the Associated Students of Colorado State University Sam Block.
“Parking is going to be a mess on campus next year,” Block said. “It’s just going to be in student’s best interest to not drive if they have the option of either taking the bus or biking.”
Students have many options in Fort Collins and at CSU to use alternative transportation and live sustainably while also avoiding the stresses of parking on campus.
Transfort and MAX
Both the Transfort and MAX bus routes are free to students using their student I.D. card.
“We pay a Transfort package (in our student fees),” Block said. “It’s getting use of our money, too, if we use these forms of public transportation.”
Around the Horn has become the third most used Transfort route, according to Block.
“The infrastructure is already there, the students just have to use it,” Deputy Director of Environmental Affairs for ASCSU Dakota Truitt said. “It’s free to them because they already paid for it.”
Aaron Fodge, CSU’s Parking and Transportation Services manager, said that students also have a free ride to Longmont or Boulder on the Flex bus route.
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A new route called the Bustang will be available in the fall to take people from Fort Collins to Denver. That will not be free to students, but they will likely have a student rate.
Bike
There are 15,000 bike parking spots on campus, according to Fodge.
“The bus routes and the bike routes are really, really well maintained,” Truitt said.
Fodge said that when student ride their bikes, they get to park much closer to the buildings than they can with a car. Longboards and skateboards can also get students closer to buildings.
“CSU has a lot of people that bike,” Kimiecik said. “That’s really impressive.”
If students don’t have access to a bike, there are many ways to get one. They can utilize the Bike Library that the City of Fort Collins offers, where community members can check out a bike and use it only when they need to.
The Fort Collins Bike Co-Op also sells used bikes, or students can get a free bike after volunteering through their Earn-a-Bike program.
Carpool
“A lot of people don’t know that carpool passes are cheaper,” Truitt said.
According to Fodge, people with carpool passes get designated parking spots on campus.
Block said that students can buy one carpool parking pass and split the cost between friends or roommates.
“Instead of buying multiple parking passes for all of their cars, they can buy one parking pass and shift it between cars,” Block said.
Students can also set up a payment plan for these passes and pay it off monthly, according to Fodge.
Vanpooling, which Fodge said is more popular with staff than with students, also offers close parking to buildings.
Students who do not have access to a car can use Zipcar. According to Fodge, students must create a membership online. Once they receive their card in the mail, they can reserve the car when they need it.
Collegian City Beat Reporter Sady Swanson can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter at @sadyswan.