It was a Wednesday afternoon. Like any college student without too much homework, I decided to venture off campus.
Could I be blamed, though? After being confined to my 9-by-15-foot residence hall room all week, one would tend to feel a little cramped. So, I sought out a friend and headed out for a trip to the store to pick up a few things.
The only problem was neither of us had a car.
After going though bus schedules and maps of the Eugene area, what could have easily been an hour-long trip to the store quickly turned into a three-hour excursion.
Like many students living in the residence halls, I don’t have a parking spot to keep my car on campus. The spaces are just too limited, and I’ve seen the waiting lists for parking permits to prove it.
Many would suggest that public transportation is the answer, and although public transportation is a sufficient alternative, it can turn any trip into a large ordeal, often tripling the amount of time it takes to get to just about anywhere. Granted the Lane Transit District bus service is one of the best I’ve seen, with accessible service and friendly staff to help, but public transportation is not always for everyone.
A simple trip to Fred Meyer by bus can take nearly a half an hour to an hour from the west side of campus, depending on which route is taken, while you can get there by car within 10 minutes. Often, students with busy schedules are not able to take this much time out of a given day just to run a “quick errand.”
In addition, people are no longer able to keep their own schedules, but they must follow the schedule mapped out by the LTD — and that is assuming the bus is actually on schedule.
The solution is a long-disputed one — add more parking spots. Some may argue, though, that providing students with the means to park their vehicles will only encourage students to remain dependent on them. This, in turn, could further problems such as air pollution and could discourage environmental awareness.
I agree that this is possible; however, this awareness must be a personal decision, not something forced upon the student. Even so, some may choose to use their cars on a limited basis; as in my situation, a car would come in handy for a trip to the store on a few occasions or a trip home to visit my family.
This need for more parking is evident. Currently, the neighborhoods along the east and south sides of campus are congested with parked cars during the school day. The University of Oregon Planning Office is currently working on a development policy for the East Campus area. One goal of this plan is to discourage parking in these areas by fulfilling parking needs and encouraging other forms of transportation.
With the growing number of students at the University, this is only becoming a bigger problem. It is time to reconsider if the means provided really are sufficient.
In a perfect world, a parking structure — or plainly, more parking space — could be provided to satisfy the needs of students who chose to drive. And in this perfect world, students would still be charged the same amount to park here, which, after time, could only bring revenue to the college. Of course, this isn’t a perfect world, and this issue will still remain a problem.
But until then, students can enjoy saving their scarce money on gas, oil, and maintenance on their cars — the only price to be paid is time.