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Mobility is a practice that involves the movement of people from one place to another, either through their own means of locomotion or using some form of transportation. This activity is an unavoidable necessity of any human society, but it must be exercised with responsibility, because it involves consumption of natural resources on a large scale and the generation of pollutants into the atmosphere from those motor vehicles.

Nowadays, urban environments are being used by motor vehicles which use fossil fuels, this is the most common contamination source, particles of nitrogen oxide and some others are released to the atmosphere. Furthermore, motor vehicles are also considered to be the most common source of noise pollution.

Sustainable Mobility plan has prioritized the quality of urban life and the common welfare by creating public spaces to encourage and promote citizen coexistence.

College campuses are physical spaces in where people gather from all the city each one of them having different transport needs, for example parking vehicles which can be public or private in addition to the large number of pedestrians moving within university spaces. These situations have led universities to plan and take action to improve its transportation system within the campus, so that the travel needs of the university community are addressed while the use of motor vehicles is reduced.

By this means, UANL has created a Sustainable Mobility Plan, and transportation policies and strategies have been redefined, for example, improvement of accessibility and comfort of sidewalks and spaces for pedestrians.

 

  • CONECTA – UANL program.

  • Expand sidewalks.

  • Promote mobility between campuses.

  • “Tigre Bus connectivity program”.

  • Bicycle lane at Ciudad Universitaria Campus.

  • Decrease the fleet of vehicles of UANL.

Pedestrian Areas

A strategy of sustainable mobility has been strengthened in recent years is the construction of pedestrian areas with the aim of encouraging university community to move between the various Colleges and Schools without using vehicles and at the same time decreasing traffic jams at the rush hour traffic. Ciudad Universitaria has 2.75 kilometers of pedestrian areas distributed where most student mobility is present. Tree planting has been an essential part for several years, which allows students to enjoy of shaded spaces.

 

Tigre Bus

It started its operations in 2008 and currently has 11 transport units distributed among four campuses of the MMA, Ciudad Universitaria, Mederos Campus, Health and Agricultural Science Campus. Our vehicles providing transit service to more than 4,280,760 students per year make each day 423 trips with an average of 40 students per trip.

This service operates Monday to Friday on a schedule from 6:15 to 21:00 hours, which ensures the safe and comfortable movement of students within the campus and to the bus stop.

Within four campuses, the service moves through circuits that on average are 2 km, which have established stops strategically set at the areas of greatest confluence of students, besides that, Tigre Bus connects students with the different public bus stop such as Ecovía and Metrorrey.

Ecovía consists of buses in exclusive lanes within a circuit of 30 km that crosses the city from east to west through 39 intermediate stations, passing through the municipalities of Monterrey, San Nicolas de los Garza, and Guadalupe, saving up to 50 percent commute times users. On the other hand, the Public Transport System Metrorrey, has an area of 33 km and through its 32 stations communicates from north to south and from east to west to the municipalities of Monterrey, San Nicolas de los Garza, and Guadalupe. It performs total operations using electricity generated by alternative sources, using the methane produces in the landfill of the city and at the same time avoiding the production of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Since 2016, Tigre Bus service has extended its coverage and benefits by connecting campuses, Ciudad Universitaria (San Nicolas), Mederos (Monterrey), Health Sciences (Monterrey), and Agricultural Sciences Campus (Escobedo). Schedules and routes are programmed to meet demand

UANL is attached to a model of sustainability and offers this transportation service at no cost to students. This service of transportation reduces travel times, protecting the environment, saving energy and providing a better urban environment.

Economic benefits derived from the transportation service Tigrebus

The operation of the university transport service discourages the use of private cars on university campuses, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) into the atmosphere, but additionally represents economic benefits for students of more than 37 million pesos a year.

Vehicle fleet

UANL has the need for the use vehicles for institutional purposes, to move around campuses, academic, administrative staff and students.

UANL has 563 vehicles distributed among 56 central departments and 26 Schools, which are periodically subjected to mechanical overhaul in order to work in optimal conditions.

By this means, the UANL acquired electric vehicles to replace internal combustion engine vehicles. These vehicles are used for security and safety purposes.

The number of motor vehicles used by university community members to transit within campuses is of 6,302, which is considered low considering that daily come together more than 200,000 people in all campuses.

Some students use a motorcycles and bikes to move within the campuses. More than 240 bikes and 320 motorcycles are in circulation at Ciudad Universitaria.

Campus Security

One fundamental condition to facilitate mobility within Ciudad Universitaria and other campuses is having security presence. The UANL through the Department of University Safety and Security has established strategies to provide proper conditions for transit and mobility within the university:

All facilities and university buildings have security service and 24-hour surveillance, 100% of pedestrian areas, streets and avenues are lit. 100% of university facilities are equipped with surveillance cameras and in some other common areas have been installed emergency towers that could serve immediate attention in an emergency. An additional security strategy implemented in favor of mobility was set guards at crosswalks allowing pedestrians to transit safely.

Within the university campus, road safety culture is promoted. Drivers crossing a crosswalk must yield to pedestrians and bicycles, however there is surveillance staff that assists pedestrians crossing streets and avenues, in addition to monitoring that vehicles respect the traffic signals and speed limit established (30km). In case of accidents, University Civil Protection will be the first responders.