Carpool spaces attract cheats

By Lauren Goodman
Daily Forty-Niner

Cal State Long Beach carpool students have difficulty parking in their allotted spaces each day, according to several carpoolers. Easy access to the permits may be part of the problem.

"All the (Parking and Transportation Services) officers on campus are citing students who are seen parking in the carpool spaces without a passenger," said Christy Hart, CSULB alternate transportation coordinator.
 Computer science major James Vu, and his friend, Bryan Lam, carpool together for a 30-minute commute from Redondo Beach.

"It's easy to get a carpool permit. All you have to do is show your student ID and bring the person you are carpooling with," Vu said.

"I drive one week and James drives the next," Lam said. "It's a nice trade-off."

"We try to get here early because if we get here too late all the parking spaces are full and we have to park really far away," Vu said.

There are some students who try and bend the rules of carpool parking.

On Tuesday morning, at 9 a.m., senior electrical engineer Amar Hajeyah was parking in a carpool space alone.

Hajeyah said he wasn't violating the carpool rules, as he commutes to school with his wife. His wife was nowhere in sight.

"I carpooled with my wife and I dropped her off at school a half hour ago. I just went to the bank and now I'm back," Hajeyah said.   "My class doesn't start ëtill 11 a.m, but the earlier you come the easier it is to find parking."

Hajeyah said he does not try to bend the carpool parking rules for fear of getting caught.

"If the police see me park alone, I'll get a ticket and I don't want that," he said.