UCLA recently released its annual State of the Commute report. The gist of it: even as enrollment has climbed in the past 20-plus years, the number of car trips to and from campus has fallen. The folks at UCLA credit this drop to several factors, most notably policies to encourage students and staff to take transit to campus or to carpool or vanpool.

I’ve plucked a few graphics from it that I think are interesting; the ones above and the nifty info-graphic posted after the jump that sums up the report’s major findings.

The campus population at UCLA is about 68,000 people — about 41,000 students and almost 27,000 faculty and staff. About 56,000 students and staff commute to the campus on a regular basis. The nearest rail stations at present aren’t so near: the Culver City Expo Line station (eight-plus miles by the most direct route) and the Purple Line’s station at Wilshire/Western (11 miles from campus).

Of course, rail transit is on the way to UCLA. The Westside Subway Extension will stop at Wilshire and Westwood boulevards, albeit that won’t happen until — gulp — 2036 under the current funding scenario. Unless, of course, Metro can find a way to accelerate the project.

In addition, the second phase of the Expo Line will have a station at Westwood Boulevard, just south of Pico Boulevard. It’s a 2.2-mile walk between the station and the intersection of Westwood and Le Conte (the south side of the UCLA campus) or, at present, a 15 to 16 minute bus ride on the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus’ 8 or 12 lines. In the future, let’s hope that there’s speedier bus service between Expo, the Westside Subway and UCLA’s campus, not to mention safe and fast bike routes.

Big, entertaining graphic after the jump — please check it out!

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