Parking has been an ever-present issue for student drivers. Crowded parking lots and inadequate spaces on campus cause stress for many students, although the anger is often self-imposed. The general campus population primarily lives near the University and therefore is not in need of on-campus parking. Those who live within a 2-mile radius and insist on driving to school are simply giving themselves problems by not utilizing other forms of transportation.
Eugene is a community that offers many alternatives to driving to school, including bicycle lanes en route to campus, bus service straight to the University, and park-and-ride lots for further destinations. More students should embrace these options instead of contributing to traffic congestion, road rage and air pollution. Those students who live very far from campus, where biking may be a less convenient option, are few and far between compared with the mass populace. However, these people have options if the University is willing to consider a change in their permit issuance.
How about a permit system based on address, in which the students who live farthest away get permits first, and then the remaining permits are bestowed by lottery? The Department of Public Safety has been overselling permits for years, much to the chagrin of commuters. Because the permits have been oversold, drivers have been forced to find alternative parking spaces within surrounding neighborhoods, eliciting complaints from those residents and owners of apartments and houses.
The City of Eugene also turns a hefty profit at the expense of those who drive to the University. Metered parking spots along the outskirts of campus are perennially overflowing, and drivers are forced to park in illegal spaces, risking towing expenses and tickets.
Some may argue that the University needs to build a parking garage to accommodate the bevy of vehicles. However, if more students utilize alternate forms of transportation, there would be sufficient room for commuters in surrounding lots on campus. A parking garage is not worth the cost, and there isn’t land allocated for such an endeavor.
There are plenty of park-and-rides available from Lane Transit District around the city. Students can ride the bus for free, which is much cheaper than purchasing a parking permit from DPS. With the forthcoming rapid transit system in Eugene, many students who live near the length of Franklin Boulevard will have no excuse for driving to school.
The parking “problem” at the University may be an illusion created by those blinded by the convenience of driving to school. However, that luxury quickly turns into a hassle when the parking lots are filled with cars commuting from places as incredibly far away as Hilyard House.
Students need to use the plentiful alternative transportation modes in order to alleviate the problem for those who do live far away, and the University needs to re-evaluate the way it issues parking permits.