Shared and sustainable mobility: carpooling project grows at Insubria’s Scientific Campus in Via Valleggio, Como.

The University of Insubria is continuing its journey towards increasingly sustainable and shared mobility. One of the most significant initiatives launched in recent months is the carpooling service in Como, at the Scientific Campus in Via Valleggio, which is recording encouraging results in terms of student participation.

The system allows those who share a car when travelling between home and university to access reserved spaces within the fenced area of the Via Valleggio site. The spaces can be booked and are intended exclusively for vehicles carrying more than one student, thereby promoting a collaborative and sustainable way of travelling.

The project has seen a gradual increase in dedicated spaces: two reserved spaces were initially identified, later increased to three and, in light of growing use by the student community, recently expanded to the current seven carpooling spaces.

The initiative is based on a model of adaptive parking management adopted by the University: the number of spaces allocated to carpooling is not fixed, but can be progressively increased according to demand. In this way, the University is committed to increasing the availability of bookable spaces for those who choose carpooling, rewarding positive behaviour and further encouraging shared travel. In other words, the more users join the service, the more additional spaces the University will be able to allocate to reserved parking.

The initiative has also been developed thanks to collaboration with BePooler, a company specialising in the management of carpooling platforms, which provides the application and digital tools needed to organise and coordinate shared journeys within the university community.

The system offers multiple benefits: students can reduce transport costs by sharing travel expenses and benefit from reserved, easily accessible parking; at the same time, the University helps reduce the number of vehicles on the road, with positive effects on traffic congestion and polluting emissions.

The experience gained in Como is a concrete example of how targeted measures can produce tangible results in improving university mobility and reducing the environmental impact of daily travel.

For this reason, the University of Insubria is considering extending the model to other sites. In particular, a similar project is currently being planned in Varese, where the start of construction work on the new multipurpose building at the Bizzozero Campus represents an important opportunity to integrate innovative solutions dedicated to sustainable mobility.

The topic was also at the centre of the “Ecomobility Insubria” conference, organised by the Rector’s Delegate for Sustainability, Green Areas and Energy Efficiency, Adriano Martinoli, on 14 November in the Aula Magna in Via Ravasi, Varese. The initiative represented an important opportunity for discussion and sharing strategies between the University and local institutions, particularly the Municipality of Varese and the Province of Varese.

During the meeting, the main actions under way and future prospects were presented to promote more efficient, sustainable and integrated forms of mobility, capable of reducing the environmental impact of travel and improving quality of life in university towns.

The carpooling experience at the Via Valleggio site is therefore part of a broader strategy aimed at encouraging positive behaviour, promoting shared mobility and making a concrete contribution to reducing emissions and improving air quality in the areas where the University operates.