Transportation

Transportation-related activities, including campus fleet operations, commuting, and business-related travel, represent a meaningful share of our greenhouse gas emissions footprint and a critical opportunity for emissions reduction.

Lafayette’s transportation emissions come from both direct (scope 1) emission sources and indirect (scope 3) emission sources.

Combined, the transportation emissions account for approximately 10% of Lafayette’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.

Learn more about Lafayette’s Transportation strategies in Category 3, Section 10 of the full Climate Action Plan 3.0.

Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations

Electric vehicles (EVs) are a highly visible way to reduce Lafayette’s direct transportation emissions, while also mitigating local air and noise pollution.

After determining strategies to be more efficient with campus vehicle use and eliminating redundancy in the fleet, Lafayette can replace its light-duty vehicles with electric models.

In order to achieve Lafayette’s  goal to replace all new light-duty vehicles with the EV equivalent by 2035, we will phase the fleet transition over 10 years, with older vehicles prioritized first.

Although transitioning Lafayette’s fleet to fully electric vehicles would be a positive and visible decarbonization initiative on campus, the project is incomplete without the addition of EV chargers to support the new vehicles.

With the feedback of the Lafayette community, we developed the map of potential EV charging stations seen below.

Public Transit

Expanding campus public transit options would help with addressing Lafayette’s emissions related to daily commuting by students, faculty, and staff.

Lafayette would work with LANTA, the public transportation authority in Easton, to expand public transit hubs to more campus facilities so that community members can commute more frequently by public bus, inducing fewer emissions per person than they would in individual gasoline-powered cars.

Expanding public transit hubs alongside walking and biking infrastructure offers the added benefits of improving local air pollution associated with commuting, while benefiting the greater Easton community by ensuring easy access from campus to local businesses and establishments.

Electric Shuttles

Lafayette currently utilizes traditional fossil fuel-based shuttle buses for all athletics and inter-campus travel between facilities (including travel between Metzgar and Main Campus).

Lafayette, in collaboration with shuttle vendors, will pursue an electric alternative to transition away from its fossil fuel-based shuttles. In addition to helping reduce emissions, electric shuttles reduce local air pollution from fossil fuel combustion, improving air quality on campus and in the surrounding community.

Sustainable Air Travel Policy

Another major contributor to business travel-related indirect (scope 3) emissions is air travel, including travel associated with annual study abroad trips.

Air travel represents a challenging but important source of indirect emissions that can be directly influenced by Lafayette, as changes are geared toward behavioral shifts.

Lafayette will develop a sustainable air travel policy intended to limit unnecessary flights, encourage lower‐emissions travel choices where feasible, and improve data transparency for emissions tracking and reporting.

Educational Opportunities

Since transportation is a category in which all campus community members engage, there are multiple opportunities for education, research, and teaching.

For solutions like public transit, there may be educational opportunities for students and faculty interested in urban planning to participate in feasibility meetings and new infrastructure buildout.

Similarly, electric vehicle fleet transition will require significant coordination with the Campus Master Plan committees, which also include students and faculty members.

Transportation Raod Map