Students Go Green with METRO

University of Houston students are going green with METRO, as hundreds signed up for student Q Cards.

It was all part of the University of Houston's 10-week "green campaign." This week,  the university staged its first "Green Commuting Fair," encouraging students to go green by commuting.

Yesterday,10 METRO staffers from our revenue and community outreach departments attended the event, bringing with them special machines that would take the students' photos - needed for a student Q Card - and machines that would reload money on any existing Q Cards. Students get to ride METRO for half price - about 62 cents per ride.

The fair continued today until 3 p.m. at three locations on the main campus: UC Satellite, PGH Breezeway and Moody Towers.

"The operation went very smoothly," said Nicole Adler, METRO's revenue marketing associate. Students were processed in about two minutes. On Monday, they will be able to pick up their Q Cards at the parking services desk in the Welcome Center.   Yesterday, METRO processed 360 students.

The "Green Commuter Fair" is part of UH's campaign to promote public transit. Carl Carlucci, UH System vice chancellor for administration and finance, said his goal was to increase public transit use by students. With the growing student population, parking spaces have become scarcer, and public transit is a great alternative. Carlucci, who was on hand yesterday helping METRO pass out Q Card information, said he wanted to get 20,000 students using public transit. The photo on the right is Carlucci talking with a student.

Frank J. Wilson, METRO's president & CEO, said in a statement that he wants to thank UH for recognizing the important role public transportation plays in our daily lives.

"By focusing your efforts to expand public transportation on your campus and among your students, you are setting a valuable example for other organizations to follow. We at METRO are looking forward to working with you on this initiative," he said.

In addition to obtaining new Q Cards, students with expired cards could get reactivated at the "Green Commuting Fair."

Students who attended the green fair were grateful METRO was on campus to make it convenient for them.  "They were really glad to see us there and appreciated that we were offering the service on location and that they didn't have to come down to the RideStore," Adler said.

She credited Landis Wyatt, a METRO sales associate whose client is UH, for the successful fair. "He suggested that we go on location to issue Q Cards," said Adler. "He was in charge of all the planning and servicing the whole project."

"We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with the University of Houston and increasing our ridership," said Adler, adding that we may revisit the campus to sign up more students six months from now. 

If any UH students are reading this, we'd love to hear about your experience becoming a green commuter. The photos on this post were taken by Maria Honey, a UH employee.