Commute Reset Challenge

Goals

The goal of this project is to motivate UCSB commuters to shift away from single-occupancy vehicle use and promote long-term behavior changes that reduce UCSB’s Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, one of the university’s major sources of carbon output.

The Commute Reset Challenge is a 90-day challenge designed to encourage staff, faculty, and students to shift away from single-occupancy vehicle commutes and use alternative modes of transportation, such as biking, public transit, carpools, vanpools, train, or walking. Participants must utilize these alternative transportations at least 16 times throughout Fall Quarter to qualify for a $60 gift card incentive. 

Araceli Avina Rodriguez, the Project Lead, was hired in Summer 2025 and currently serves as the Pilot Program Coordinator. She is responsible for the organization and implementation of this challenge. Throughout the summer, she began developing program logistics and launching outreach campaigns to recruit participants. Since the start of Fall Quarter, she has overseen participant activity to ensure the smooth operation of the SmartRide platform, which records commutes, calculates CO2 savings, and monitors participant progress. 

The concept for this project was developed by Lainey Djajakusuma, a UC President's Bonnie Reiss Climate Action fellow, in the 2024-2025 school year. Lainey also wrote a TGIF grant for the challenge. The project was developed as a potential action in UCSB's Draft Climate Action Plan.