Sustainability in Parking and Transportation

Bicycle Safety Training Program: In an effort to encourage safe bicycling at WKU, the Office of Sustainability has partnered with WKU Parking & Transportation, ORAC, and the City of Bowling Green to create a bicycle safety training program. A lack of formal bicycle safety instruction for both riders and drivers has become a prevalent issue on campus and in the community. Several students will be certified by the League of American Bicyclists standards, allowing for peer-to-peer instruction. The program will contribute to our Bicycle Friendly University application.

Campus Bike Share:WKU introduced VeoRide to campus in 2018, greatly improving access to sustainable, quick-commute transportation. To rent a bike, simply download the VeoRide app and locate a bike. Then, open Bluetooth on your phone, scan the QR code on the bike or enter the bike’s ID to unlock it, and ride. Unlike traditional bike shares, VeoRide is a dockless system, allowing patrons to park the bike anywhere after finishing a ride. Current pay-as-you-go bike rental rates start at 50 cents for 15 minutes. Day passes are $6.99 and include unlimited two-hour rides. Additional packages are available at a discount to students, faculty and staff for $13.99/month or $48.99/annually and include unlimited one-hour rides. Standard rates are $28.99/month or $99.99/annually.

Carless Program: The Carless Program is an incentive package to encourage campus residents to leave their cars at home for the Fall Semester. Participants receive discounts for transportation services offered through the Parking and Transportation Services Department. The goal of the program is to reduce the number of cars on campus during the busiest time of year. Program benefits include:
- Access to the Topper Transit System
- Complimentary GObg Public Transit Semester Pass ($50 value).
- 50% discount for available Spring parking permits
- Receive $35 in driving credits towards Enterprise CarShare program rentals ($35 value)
- VeoRide bike share semster credit.
- Complimentary bicycle tune up at the Preston Bike Shop on campus ($35 value).

Carshares:Parking and Transportation partners with Enterprise Carshare allowing students 18 and older, faculty, and staff to rent a car by the hour, day, or overnight. International driver's licenses are accepted.

Parksmart Certification:Parking Structure 3 received a Parksmart Bronze certification from the Green Business Certification Inc in 2018. PS3 was the first parking structure in Kentucky and the 26^th in the world to receive a Parksmart certification. Parksmart is the world’s only certification system designed to advance sustainable mobility through smarter parking structure design, construction and operation. The Parksmart certification process looks at four components: Management, Programs, Technology and Structure Design and Innovation. An informational sign is installed on the first floor of PS3 that describes the sustainable features of the structure. These include an efficient LED lighting system, electric vehicle charging stations, air pump station and bicycle repair station. During construction, 82 percent of the building materials in the precast structural system were extracted or manufactured within 300 miles of the site. Nearly 82 percent of the construction waste was recycled. The project incorporated and reconfigured the adjacent campus transit hub to improve pedestrian safety, bus circulation and traffic flow and provides a connection for students to the campus and Bowling Green’s GObg Transit Center.

Parking Garages: Parking Structure 1 and 2 were upgraded in 2010 with new high efficiency fluorescent, LED, and fiber optic lighting systems as part of WKU’s Energy Savings Performance Contract. The new lighting has reduced the electrical usage of these lots by 54%, saving 802,575 kWh annually. The project has improved safety while using far less energy.

Surface Lots:WKU Parking and Transportation Services and Planning, Design and Construction Department incorporated sustainable features into parking lot designs at WKU to reduce stormwater run-off, the heat island effect, and energy consumption. In 2009, the Chestnut Street North Lot underwent a complete renovation. In the new design, greenspace was expanded, which reduced the surface area of asphalt from 1.3 acres to 1.1 acres. Permeable concrete was utilized in the lowest section of the parking lot. These two features have reduced stormwater run-off from this parking lot by 47%. Also in 2009, the Adams Street and University Boulevard parking lots also got makeovers, using rain gardens with native plants and permeable concrete to reduce stormwater runoff. In 2010, the Mimosa and Minton Lots were improved, with use of permeable concrete to reduce stormwater run-off and reflective coating to reduce the heat island effect. These improvements contributed to the LEED Gold status of Gary Ransdell Hall.

Sustainable Fleet:WKU Parking and Transportation is striving for the NAFA Sustainable Fleet accreditation. This program requires PTS maximize efficiency of all vehicles owned by the university. NAFA defines a sustainable fleet as one that manages and reduces net environmental impacts from fleet operations at or ahead of pace required for environmental need by demonstrating that the fleet is:
- Improving air quality through
- emission reduction;
- Increasing fuel efficiency; and
- Reducing fuel usage.

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