In 1997, the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) adopted an Official Community Plan bylaw for Ubc, which mandated a TDM program for UBC. In the subsequent Memorandum of Understanding between the GVRD and UBC, the university committed to three transportation targets over a five-year period. Using 1997 as a baseline, UBC agreed that it would reduce solo driving by 20 per cent and increase transit ridership by 20 per cent. For its part, Translink—the regional transit provider—agreed that it would increase transit service to the Point Grey campus, especially on limited-stop express routes. In addition to this, UBC agreed that it would increase parking fees to discourage driving, thereby creating additional funds with which to subsidize the U-Pass. On top of this, UBC has staggered its class times to reduce peak-hour overcrowding and committed itself to building more housing for students on campus.

As a result, transit ridership to and from the Point Grey campus increased by 168 per cent between 1997 and 2008. It is important to note that during this period, Ubc’s daytime population increased from 42,300 in 1997 to 57,650 in 2008. Because of the increase in the daytime population, solo driving to and from campus has declined by only 6 per cent, which is well below the projected 20 per cent. As this suggests, the majority of mode-shift has come from students who carpooled in the past. In fact, at Ubc, car-pooling has declined by 49 per cent since the implementation of U-Pass. This is not surprising, because “car poolers” represent “low-hanging fruit” for tdm initiatives. And yet, this reduction in driving has had a remarkable impact on UBC’s campus. Thanks to student participation in the U-Pass program, UBC has removed 3,000 parking spaces from its Point Grey campus, which the University has replaced with residential developments.