Park
and Ride eases parking headaches
By Kimberly Pasquis
On-line Forty-Niner
Cal
State Long Beach will see an increase of
1,200-1,300 new students this semester.
However, there will not be an increase in
the number of parking spaces for these new
students.
In order to combat the influx of students
in the first weeks of the semester, Parking
and Transportation Services has organized
a Park and Ride service for students and
faculty. Veterans Memorial Stadium and Long
Beach City Marina will serve as the two
sites.
“We are creating alternatives,” said Tom
Bass, senior director of Parking, Transportation
and Event Services. “We have no idea what
the response will be from students. This
is just in response to how bad the problem
is.”
According to Bass, 64 percent of the CSULB
student population is from Los Angeles County.
Theoretically, the Park and Ride locations
are in route for most students to get to
campus.
“The parking on campus is really awful,”
senior nursing major Carol Vance said. “Luckily,
I am on campus fairly early in the morning
so I kind of get to beat the rush.”
The Park and Ride facilities will be available
to students from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday
through Thursday. The Beach Cruisers will
be the shuttles escorting riders to campus.
Twenty minutes should be allowed for the
commute. In order to avoid on campus traffic,
the Beach Cruiser drops off at the East
Turnaround.
The Beach Cruiser will leave for their destination
every 20 minutes. The two shuttles will
be using radios to maintain their interval
to be the most effective for students getting
to campus. Faculty and staff are also being
encouraged to use Park and Ride.
Although the Park and Ride plan does not
seem convenient for students with late afternoon
or night courses, Bass does advise that
students find the time to move their cars
back to campus after the peak times have
ceased and parking is then available.
“Students need to try to create new ways
of getting on and off campus,” Bass said.
The first 8 weeks of the semester is when
parking sees the most problems. The service
is designed to cater to the peak times.
At the conclusion of the eight weeks, Parking
and Transportation Services will evaluate
if the Park and Ride facilities are still
needed.
“[The parking problem] isn’t going to go
away,” Bass said. “If this is a complete
bust then we will have to rethink this plan.” |
