A Shuttle Bus for the University of Central Florida

The University of Central Florida, with an enrollment of approximately 16,000 students, is being faced with parking, traffic and transportation problems. The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a commuter campus, with over 90% of the students arriving by automobile. Parking spaces cost over $800/space, and funding to build new spaces is scarce. Existing lots on the perimeter of the UCF campus offer a potential advantage to park and ride services or a shuttle serve around UCF. Research conducted for this paper evaluated the usage of a shuttle bus system around the UCF campus. The primary purpose of the shuttle is to move people around the campus, similar to the shuttle used by Disney. This is benefit primarily to the users, but it is also an asset to the whole campus, especially since it increased the general mobility of the University population and its accessibility to various locations and activities. The size of a shuttle travel area around the campus, routes that would serve all major areas of the campus and cost of the shuttle bus are the major points evaluated in the research report. The methodology included in this study references the Urban Transportation Planning Process (UTPP), which consists of four sub-models: (1) trip generation, (2) trip distribution, (3) modal split and (4) traffic assignment.