Just when everybody thought the parking in North Lot couldn’t get any worse … it did. This year has been pure chaos. Not only are students parking in Hogan more frequently, but now we have the Westwoods Lot up and running for commuter students. What a joke. I could sit here and advise you how to beat parking situations like I did last year, like putting inflatable people
in your car so you can carpool, but I think we’re past that. We need a new system that works.
This may be a bit of a stretch, but imagine this. We number each parking space, one through fifty, or however many spots it seems like there are. Then we start up a website that allows you to view the parking lot and each space through your phone. Then as you park in a space you can “check in” to a numbered spot, just like using Foursquare. This way, before you even leave your house or dorm, you can log on and view what spots are open, when people are leaving, and then … wait for it … shotty the space you want. That’s right, a shotty system in North Lot, from your mobile devices. Imagine just pulling into North Lot knowing there is a person leaving and a spot waiting for you.
This isn’t about me anymore. I’ll be gone by the time someone sets up a complex and awesome system like this up. This is about the students that one day will have to drive around for a half hour to park a mile away from campus in 100-degree heat.
Not to worry though, I’ve heard that security believes the reason for this parking mayhem is because the traffic flow is worse in the beginning of the year, and it will only get better. What I don’t think security realizes is that there are more than 500 new students that can drive with the addition of Eastview up at York. I’m not liking my odds of getting better parking spots when it’s 10 below zero and the heat in my car doesn’t work – again.
In all seriousness, though, there are two solutions to this problem. Either a new parking lot has to be built, or just drive around North Lot three times. If there are no open spots, go home, class wasn’t meant to be.
rando • Oct 2, 2011 at 10:13 pm
The whole check-in system is far too complex to ever work. How about the university actually uses Whitney Lot, which is still there but has been chained off and unused for years?
Send your sophomore students to park in that lot and commute to their cars just like I had to when I was a sophomore, and then open up the Hilltop lot as an additional on-campus parking lot.
I don’t understand why this hasn’t already been done. Hilltop is huge and it makes more sense to make commuters park ON campus then have to park all the way over at Westwoods. Somebody write an article on that or talk to Harry Needham, head of parking-related issues. As a matter of fact, I’d really like it if EVERYBODY would just incessantly e-mail him and demand that they use this as a solution.
Umm... • Sep 25, 2011 at 10:13 pm
1) What if someone doesn’t have a smartphone?
2) Who is going to enforce the foursquare parking? You’d have to devote a lot of security’s resources to enforcement. I doubt people are going to willingly overlook an open spot because they haven’t “checked in”.
3) People don’t realize that they could save time by walking the additional five minutes from Hogan Lot to class instead of aimlessly driving around North Lot praying that there is a spot open.