The San Diego Trolley has taught a lot about how to build good good transit since it first line opened in 1981: implementing cost-effective transit, linking transit modes, expanding gradually but systematically, and building public support. The Trolley’s newest lesson, actually takes place on a university campus.

Universities make great transit destinations. To start with, a university is a major employment center. Commuter students, of course, have the same travel patterns as employees. And students who live on campus will ride transit, too: they’re less likely than the general public to have cars and they want to get off campus sometimes. This is old news. Some east coast universities have had rail transit access for a century. And many modern rail transit systems serve higher education: DC’s Metrorail, for example, has 10 stations named for universities.

But San Diego State University stands out. When San Diego’s MTDB was designing the Mission Valley East line, it wanted to put a station at the fringe of campus, down alongside I-8. But as this article notes, the university demanded better. The result is an underground station right within campus, next to the student center and alongside a new campus green.

This is the right way to serve a university with transit. The campus is a pedestrian-friendly realm already; the key is to put transit within that realm. Ask students to ride a shuttle bus or to walk across wide parking lots to get to the station and they’ll seriously consider driving instead.

We’re dealing with similar situations here in Houston. Two universities — UH and TSU — anchor the east end of the Universities Line. And judging from what METRO consultants were saying at the scoping meetings, neither administration wants rail on campus — just near campus. Students that want to ride light rail may be in for a shuttle bus ride or a long walk.

Why? I would understand trying to keep the public off of a closed campus, but both UH and TSU are open to visitors. And while at grade light rail doesn’t fit into campus as neatly as a subway does, it’s both quieter and safer for pedestrians than the cars that both universities allow onto campus (check out the Portland State University campus). And it’s a fact that criminals can drive.

Obviously, there are administrative issues that have to worked out between a university and a transit agency to put rail on campus. But the goal here isn’t to make life easy for administrators; it’s to make life easy for students, faculty, and staff. From that perspective, rail on campus makes a lot of sense.

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