Colorado State University Parking and Transportation Services is developing an updated Transportation Demand Management plan for transportation on campus. The plan will become part of the 2024 Campus Master Plan and will outline the future of transportation through and around campus for the coming decade.

PTS plans to focus on transportation demand management and maximizing the transportation choices available to students and community members. The updated plan will also prioritize access and safety for all modes of travel. The department will be collecting student suggestions and feedback over the next several weeks.

The last transportation plan update was in 2014 and focused on creating a denser, more urban campus in response to increased student enrollment. This involved lowering the ratio of parking spots to students and concentrating them around the perimeter to promote walking, biking and public transit once students reach campus.

The new plan seeks to build on past improvements and make transit available to anyone who might need it.

“Equity is certainly at the heart of this plan,” said Jamie Gaskill, a PTS active transportation professional. “Especially when we’re considering access.”

Gaskill said the goal is to achieve a balance between all modes of transportation that prioritizes reliability and convenience.

“CSU has a seat at almost all the city’s transportation planning efforts since CSU is the largest employer, and many students do not have a car and are dependent on the variety of transportation options provided in Fort Collins.” -Melina Dempsey, senior transportation planner with FC Moves

This goal is outlined in the concept of a person’s “travel shed”: the range of options they are able to choose from in order to get from their home to CSU. These could include taking the bus, biking, walking, driving or utilizing ride-sharing or scooter rental services.

Gaskill said the updated transportation plan will strive to “use strategies to make sure that people, no matter where they’re coming from or what they’re doing, that they do have options … and hopefully the options that work best for them.”

On the city side, Fort Collins is also focusing on transportation demand management. The FC Moves 2020 Strategic Plan outlines goals similar to the university’s: choice, equity and convenience.

Melina Dempsey, a senior transportation planner with FC Moves, said Fort Collins works closely with CSU on planning efforts.

“CSU has a seat at almost all the city’s transportation planning efforts since CSU is the largest employer, and many students do not have a car and are dependent on the variety of transportation options provided in Fort Collins,” Dempsey said.

Over the long term, expanding these options means increasing bus frequency, opening more MAX rapid transit bus lines and implementing “microtransit,” small-scale transportation that responds to demand in areas that are underserved by the current transportation system.

PTS is currently wrapping up phase one of the development process, which consisted of presentations to over 35 stakeholder groups at CSU and in Fort Collins. Phase two will focus on input from the community. Staff will be conducting focus groups with registered students, holding pop-up events around campus and emailing an online survey to a sample of the university community.

A draft of the updated plan will be open to public comment from late February to early April, and the final version will be presented to CSU’s Master Plan Committee at the beginning of May.

Students interested in shaping the future of transportation on campus can get involved in a number of ways. PTS offers a focus group signup form on their website.

Reach Finn Carnahan at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @csucollegian.