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Paul Chang
Professor Berns
ENGL 114B
14 May, 2016
Word Count: 1511
Commuting to College
California State University, Northridge is a commuter school where students travel
dozens of miles to further their education (Hansook). I personally traveled from Los Angeles to
attend CSUN to get an engineering degree. The distance of travel is easy to coup with, but the
main problem is with traffic from accidents or the rush hour. This would affect the time it would
take to travel to class and the amount of gas I would use. I would spend about $30-$35 once
every week to travel to school. Public transportation is also an alternative method that can cost
as much as $90 per month (Gobel). Public transportation is also requires more planning than
driving to school as there are schedules and routes that might require a person to take multiple
bus and train routes. The cost of transportation from ones home to school is difficult as students
are limited due to their budget and options.
Within the Commuting Behavior and Transportation Preferences of the CSUN
Community, a survey was given out between January 26 and February 28, 2015 to 10,000
randomly selected students and 1,000 staff and faculty members. This survey was made to
achieve the information on methods of transportation and challenges, mode choice, and
distances. Within the graph data given in page 2, Figure 3, 59% of the students drive alone to

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campus while, 13% uses the bus, and the rest uses an alternative method of transport or lives on
campus. This would range from 5 to 40 plus miles of coverage of students commuting to CSUN.
Los Angeles has a reputation of having terrible traffic during rush hour that can increase a
persons journey across town by hours. A significant portion of respondents come from beyond
the twenty five mile radius, coming from areas such as Palmdale/Lancaster, Bakersfield, Santa
Barbara county, and as far south as Mission Viejo (Woldeamanuel 12). Some of these regions
are heavily affected by traffic that it would affect the students with gas prices and time to reach
the school. As majority of the students drive to CSUN, purchase a parking permit is largely used
as the lots are on campus and are thereby, closer to classrooms and offices than a parking spot
elsewhere (Woldeamanuel 4). 70% of students purchase the semester or annual permit as 12%
purchases the daily permit and the 18% parks outside of campus. Each semester parking costs a
$180 as selected parking lots within campus such as F10 and G10 are half the price, but are
much farther from campus. The cost of summer courses differ as they cost $120 for a 12-week
session and $60 for a 6-week session. The added cost of parking permits, gas, insurance, and
maintenance, can stack up to becoming quite costly.
An alternative method of transportation that students are public transports. Owning a car
may not be an option to a student with a set budget. Places such as the University of Idaho
estimates its students will spend $1,116 per year on transportation (Gobel). The price may not
compare as high as owning a car but it can be costly to those with a budget. Plan such as the 529
plan provide students with the ability of saving money on public transportation, but it comes at
the cost of the inability of withdrawing the money once placed. Improvements within the transit
system to CSUN is to improve as within the article Valley Transportation Summit Solidifies
Support of CSUN Transpiration Priorities Mayor Eric Garcetti and other elected officials are

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aimed at improving public transit access to California State University, Northridge and the
surrounding community (Olson). The improvement of CSUNs transit system is through the
addition of bus rapid transit (BRT) to CSUN, saying [Garcetti] would drive dollars and drive
lines to campus (Olson). The plans to increase to improve public transportation towards CSUN
has gone underway for San Fernando Valley to improve, not only transit through bus, but ease
traffic congestion and parking issues surrounding the university (Olson). Campus officials
have proposed to place the BRT between the Orange line and along Reseda. Metro has also
committed into providing a new schedule for CSUN-connected bus service in the beginning of
this June that would provide information a parallel class schedules with bus access. Metro is also
announcing a way for CSUN students to receive discount passes. This would provide a major
improvement within the transit system to arriving to CSUN as the transit system around the
campus was not dedicated. CSUN also provides a free Metrolink shuttle between the campus and
the Northridge Metrolink station. This service is only available within the morning and afternoon
while during the mid-day, the Northridge DASH is the other option. The morning shuttle is
active between the hours of 7:00 am to 9:00 am and the afternoon shuttle is active between 2:35
pm to 5:15 pm.
An alternative method of travel is human-powered transportation, such as bikes,
skateboards, etc. Within our campus, riding bicycles, skateboards, scooters, and even the hover
boards (the mechanical device that acts as a small platform with wheels to move at a higher
speed than walking) are largely used every day. We are opening a bike shop to teach, repair, and
maintain a bicycle on campus next semester with the ability of renting one. UC Davis, UC Santa
Barbara, UCLA, and Stanford provides a bicycle-friendly environment with wide-streets, wellmarked bike lanes, inviting pathways, gentle terrain, mild climate, and an attitude of mutual

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respect between cyclists and motorists (DAflonso 3). UC Davis and UC Santa Barbra has been
ranked Gold from the League of American Bicyclists with UCLA receiving a platinum. Both
Davis and Santa have roundabouts and sectioned off paths from pedestrians to bicycles. CSUN
does have something similar between the engineering building and the library, but is not largely
constructed around campus. One major problem for bicyclists on campus is the issue of bikes
being stolen every month or every other week. Within UCLA and UC Davis, bicycle racks are
placed in the most visible places, encourage for stronger locks or multiple locks, and the
installation of Bikelid Lockers within the campus. UC Davis requires bike owners to register
their bikes used in campus in order to maintain thefts and any other bicycle operations within
their campus. For the safety of the pedestrians, there are dismounts zones located throughout
their campuses for a safer travel. CSUN does have similar laws to these campuses, but it is not
enforced within our campus. No confirmed news of any active improvements for the biking
commuting within the campus but recommendations for the improvement of traffic of
pedestrians and cyclists have been shown.
Improvements in transportation methods to save money and time have been announced to
being placed into action and/or has been sent to find improvements within the system. Another
alternative method of transportation is through an app based taxi-service called Uber or Lyft, that
can provide a person an easier way of transportation but can be seen as a pricy option. One
method that CSUN encourages for students who drive is the usage of a carpool. Carpooling is
more present to students who live further off of campus as those who are 15-miles away are
more likely to form a carpool, likely utilizing student-organized rideshares (Woldeamanuel 12).
Another method presented was the 529 plan of which it acts as a tax-advantage savings plan
from pre-paid tuitions to college saving plans. Living near campus or living on campus can

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provide an alternative choice for saving money from getting a car. Within the Metro system, new
routes, and programs are being released this summer to try and fix the many issues of the transit
system that CSUN has with an unorganized route. Within the Sundial article of CSUN
commuter students face challenges getting involved in extra-curricular activities, a student by
the name Ira Caminong uses a bike to travel around as he said a car is out of his budget and
public transportation is inconsistent (OH). This article was posted in the year 2011 when
improvements on the transit system, Metro, has yet to be announced. Another student of the
name Brian Hernandez, takes four buses and one train to CSUN from Hawthorne that took about
three hours. For Brians problem, the best solution for him would be the usage of a carpool
program from registering to the associated students wed page. The usage of man-power or bikes,
is a popular method in which it is a much cheaper method of travel. The major cause of it is the
safety of the usage and parking a bike around campus. CSUN has yet to develop its campus into
a higher grade bicycle-friendly university. Only suggestions have be announced for
improvements of traveling around campus and a higher security storage for the bikes. The cost
on traveling to a commuter school such as CSUN can come at a price, but it opens the ability of a
larger diverse environment that can allow a larger breather of other peoples ideas and origins
with a large group of over forty thousand students.

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Works Cited
Dalfonso, Dennis, Anna, Zeynep Toker, Ph.D., Helen M. Cox, Ph.D., and Laura Yetter. CSUN
Bicycle Report. Los Angeles: California State University, Northridge - Institute for
Sustainability, May 2012. PDF. 14 May 2016.
<http://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/bike_report_final-m.pdf>.
Gobel, Reyna. "Budget, Save for College Commuting Costs." U.S. News & World Report. U.S.
News & World Report, 14 Aug. 2013. Web. 14 May 2016.
<http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-forcollege/articles/2013/08/14/budget-save-for-college-commuting-costs>.
Oh, Hansook. "CSUN Commuter Students Face Challenges Getting Involved in Extra-curricular
Activities." The Sundial. California State University, Northridge, 29 Sept. 2011. Web. 14
May 2016. <http://sundial.csun.edu/2011/09/csun-commuter-students-face-challengesgetting-involved-in-extra-curricular-activities/>.
Olson, Emily. "Valley Transportation Summit Solidifies Support of CSUN Transportation
Priorities." CSUN Today. California State University, Northridge, 7 Mar. 2016. Web. 14
May 2016. <http://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/university-news/summit-solidifies-supporttransportation-priorities/>.
Woldeamanuel, Mintesnot, Andrew Somers, Hamik Hartounian, and Helen Cox. Commuting
Behavior and Transportation Preferences of the CSUN Community. Los Angeles:
California State University, Northridge - Institute for Sustainability, 24 Feb. 2016. PDF.
14 May
2016. <http://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/Commuting_Report_2016_final.pdf>.

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