Ten Ontario universities and colleges, including Ryerson, to lead largest-ever study on student transportation
Research shows that 33 per cent of students spend two hours or more travelling to and from their campuses.
This week the largest-ever collective of colleges and universities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) announced that they will embark on a first-of-its-kind study on student transportation. The study, StudentMoveTO, started in 2015 with Toronto’s four universities and has now expanded to include 10 post-secondary institutions from across the region.
College and university students in the GTHA account for more than 600,000 daily commuters on a crowded transportation system. At this scale, time spent on both transit and the road limits students’ ability to engage in activities inside and outside of the classroom. The study will help identify the changes needed to increase the quality of life for students, and the overall vitality of the GTHA and its transportation infrastructure.
Raktim Mitra, from Ryerson’s School of Urban and Regional Planning and the principal investigator on the study, recognizes the need to acknowledge students as one of the region’s bigger commuter segments.
“One in every 11 GTHA residents is a post-secondary student and 33 per cent of our students spend two hours or more travelling to and from their campuses. Our preliminary research indicates that the commute affects a student’s participation in academic and social activities. The data from this study will facilitate research and debate on the topics of infrastructure need and student well-being, and ultimately lead to better policy.”
Ryerson President Mohamed Lachemi, added: “The StudentMoveTO study is a strong example of how universities and colleges can come together to conduct meaningful research into the challenges and needs of our students. I encourage all students to participate in this innovative study and to share their insights as the results of this research will not only benefit students but our region as a whole.”
Long wait times are a challenging factor in using public transit.
The StudentMoveTO results will:
- Provide first-of-its-kind publicly available data based on the largest-ever survey on student transportation, and insights on topics identified through the largest group of collaborators to date.
- Generate conversation between students, researchers, transportation planners and concerned citizens, to inform public policy and bring change.
- Create resources that will be available to the public in order to enable teaching and inform policy making across Canada.
- Work toward province-wide and national collaboration.
- Allow for student transportation needs to be incorporated into campus planning and urban policy.
Academic partners on this expanded study include:
- Centennial College
- Durham College
- OCAD University
- McMaster University
- Mohawk College
- Ryerson University
- Sheridan College
- Ontario Tech University
- University of Toronto
- York University
Ryerson students will be prompted to participate in the StudentMoveTO study via email starting October 1st. For more information, visit: www.studentmoveto.ca/ (external link) .