Attention: faculty, staff and commuter students! During the month of October, we will go toe-to-toe -- or more accurately, tire-to-tire -- with a number of other campuses nationwide in the Fall Campus Challenge to rack up the most points for commuter trips to campus using alternative transportation modes: walking, biking, riding the bus, carpooling, and ride sharing!
Become part of the Ithaca College Campus Challenge team and track your commuting modes! To sign up, go to Commuter Challenges and click on the "Fall Campus Challenge" icon. Select Ithaca College as your school and follow the simple directions to create your individual team member record.
Then, starting October 1 and continuing through October 31, use the "Commute Log" function to record your daily commute to school during the month. Every day you use any form of alternative transportation earns you a point.
You may also set up teams within the Ithaca College Home Team if you want to get your friends and coworkers to participate in the Campus Challenge with you. See how much you can reduce your CO2 emissions working together as a group! Team efforts will be tracked separately, but all team points will add to the Ithaca College Home Team advantage.
The Fall Campus Challenge will have three awards for which participating schools will be competing:
* highest percentage of participation
* highest percentage of alternative transportation used
* most CO2 saved
Challenge yourself to try alternative transportation during October! There are individual prizes too! At the end of the challenge, a drawing will be conducted and five individuals will win iPod Nanos. The drawing will be random, but each person's odds of winning will be based upon the number of points they earned during the challenge. In other words, a person who used alternative modes of transportation for 20 days during the challenge will have 20 times more chances of winning than a person who used an alternative mode of transportation only once.
Determination of winning schools and individual winners will be made on Tuesday, November 11. This will give all participants time to complete their commuting log entries for the month of October.
This Fall Campus Challenge is being sponsored by AlterNet Rides, with whom Ithaca College, Tompkins County, Cornell, and others have partnered to develop a region-wide carpool and ride-share system. This system will allow you to connect with others from your county, village, town, or block who are commuting into Ithaca: folks who work similar schedules to yours and who also seek carpool partners. Instead of just finding willing carpool partners who work here at Ithaca College, this regional system opens up the universe of possible carpool and ride-share partners to employees working at Cornell, or downtown, or at the hospital, for instance.
AlterNet Rides also provides support for one-time ride-shares, like trips home for fall break! Again, this regional system extends your offer of a ride home -- or your need FOR a ride home -- to other students in the Tompkins County region, including Cornell, TC3, and Wells, not just to students from the Ithaca College community. This should greatly expand your opportunities to share rides and reduce costs!
Even if you don't want to participate in the Campus Challenge, you can sign up for the AlterNet Ride system through the same sign-in portal as shown above. Click the "Menu" button and see all the helpful resources that AlterNet provides for you -- all completely free of charge!
You're in the driver's seat! Travel smarter!
