Senate Bill 12-13-21
| Bill ID: | 12-13-21 |
| Name: | Establishing A More Sustainable Transportation Funding Model |
| Proposed: | 10/03/2012 |
| Sponsor: | Matthew Popkin |
| Proposal: | The University of Maryland Department of Transportation Services (DOTS) is a self-support unit that currently operates under an unsustainable funding model. This is not much of a fault of their own, but rather campus goals and current funding practices that simply cannot support long-term planning and growth given the current funding system. DOTS presently receives funding from the following major sources: mandatory student fees (undergraduate and graduate), parking permits (students, staff, and faculty), and parking violations. (students, staff, faculty, and visitors). These revenue sources provide money for daily operations as well as the robust Shuttle-UM services offered across the campus, off-campus, and in the evenings. However, the University's Climate Action Plan states that the number of personal vehicles encouraged and even allowed to park on campus should be decreasing over the coming years, in an effort to expand and encourage ridership via public transportation, including, but not limited to, bus services, carpooling, vanpooling, metro, and biking. There is an inherent contradiction between how DOTS generates revenue and the goals that the campus seeks to attain. As parking spaces and permits are decreased, revenue decreases from that major funding source, decreasing the funding available for providing for and growing Shuttle-UM ridership, which is at an all-time high, increasing rapidly, and will continue to increase as more students, staff, and faculty need to access public transportation to cut down on personal vehicle use. The University's Facilities Master Plan 2011-2030 update reinforces the goal of sustainable transportation, promoting development and growth of a campus bicycle infrastructure, "high quality Shuttle-UM" system, and use of other transportation modes other than personal vehicles, all while systematically reducing personal vehicle use on campus (See pages 45-46 of the Facilities Master Plan). The Transportation Subcommittee, which worked specifically on the transportation component on the Facilities Master Plan, of which I was a member, discussed the funding model to some extent, but realized that it was a larger topic than the committee could handle in the time it was given. In fact, funding bus routes was recently discussed during a Campus Transportation Advisory Council (CTAC) meeting in September 2012. Due to substantial increases in student ridership at the University of Maryland at Shady Grove, three park and rides (Bowie, Burtonsville, and Laurel) that primarily serve faculty and staff were set to be cancelled due to costs and demand at Shady Grove. This is one example of an inability to accommodate and service all areas that would ideally need to be serviced in order to adequately reduce the use of personal vehicles. The Purple Line, which will be arriving to campus at the end of the decade, offers much potential to accommodate the increased demand of an expanding Shuttle-UM service, but that is years away and unlikely to drastically impact the current predicament. There is a strong and relatively urgent need to reshape the long-term funding model to support Shuttle-UM and additional modes of transportation without the reliance upon revenues primarily from parking permits and violations or a substantial increase of student fees. Students cannot continue to keep picking up the tab to cover additional transportation funding, something to which University has committed itself for good reason. |
| Active? | No |
| Related Bills: |
Status
| Status: | Completed |
| Completed On: | 12/11/2013 |
History
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Matthew Popkin, Proposer |
| Received: | 2013-11-07 |
| Decision Date: | 2013-12-11 |
| Decision: | The proposer withdrew the proposal. |
| Actions: | 12/11/13: The proposer decided to withdraw this proposal and submit a more focused proposal entitled, "Proposal to Establish a Sustainable Transportation Funding Model Task Force" (Senate Doc #13-14-16). |
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| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2012-10-10 |
| Decision Date: | 2013-10-30 |
| Decision: | The SEC voted to return the proposal and ask for further clarification. |
| Actions: | At the 10/10/12 meeting, the SEC voted to postpone consideration of the proposal pending a discussion of the topic at a President's Breakfast meeting. At the 11/12/2012 meeting the SEC voted to postpone consideration of the proposal pending the report from the Department of Transportation Services Steering Committee. At the 10/30/13 SEC meeting the SEC voted to send the proposer a letter requesting clarification of the proposal. |
| Next Step: | Proposer Review |
| Related Files: |