Student parking issues addressed on campus

MAGGIE GERMANO
Special to The Leader

Even after Fredonia expanded its parking lots, many students still partake in the early morning scramble to find a parking spot. Drivers wait in lines of cars for people leaving class and/or zip through narrow lanes of the parking lot to find a space.

"I'm usually kind of annoyed if I can't get a spot near Houghton but it's not a huge travesty if I'm a couple minutes late to class," said junior physics major Trevor Findley.

There are 3,306 parking spaces in over 30 parking lots on campus. There have been 5,022 parking stickers sold so far this year, which is 71 fewer than last year and almost 300 fewer than just a few years ago.

Parking space has gradually increased in the past few years. Residents Row was expanded to provide more parking spaces for students living in University Commons. Presidents Row, behind Fenton Hall, was widened over the summer to accommodate parking on either side of the road.

Other SUNY schools have different parking policies. At Oneonta, only juniors and seniors may have cars on campus. At Brockport, students pay a fee of $100 to park in the lots that are closer to campus but may pay $50 to park in the lots that are further away.

Despite parking difficulties before class, according to Tracy Bennett, vice president for administration, Fredonia's car-to-parking spot ratio is much better than that of some other schools. Most campuses have about a five to one ratio while Fredonia's is less than two to one.

Bennett said the total amount of stickers sold is not an accurate number for how many cars are on campus at one time. People may register more than one car but will not have all cars on campus at once. When stickers become damaged or lost, a new one must be issued as well. As person can get as many stickers as they want.

Faculty and staff have to pay five dollars each in order to receive as many parking passes as they want. For students, there is no additional fee. The parking fee for students to park is included in everyone's student service fee.

The amount of stickers sold to faculty and staff so far this year is 1,699. The number of freshmen registered is 455 and there have been 2,868 upperclassmen who have registered. The increase of parking lots and the large number of people driving to school every day is of great concern.

Alicia Fahrner, an environmental science major, said, "Honestly, I would feel very disappointed if more parking spots were added as cars increased. Our campus is so beautiful and whenever it's warm out there are always people enjoying the green space that we are so lucky to have."

Bennett, who is also the head of the new Sustainability Committee, said that the administration has reached its limits on building parking lots in the core of the campus. Since Fredonia is seen as "a beautiful green campus," Bennett said that additional parking would only be put in the surrounding areas of the campus.

"We'd like to see less [driving] but we're not at the point of mandating people's decisions," said Bennett.

Yet, there are ways that the administration is trying to discourage students from driving to school. At every summer orientation program, freshmen are told that they do not need a car at school. As a source of further discouragement, freshmen are required to park in lot 9C, the lot furthest away from dorms.

Students are being encouraged to use other forms of transportation. Due to a rising demand, more bike racks have been added around campus. Public transportation is also provided on campus. There is a bus service that runs throughout the community and on campus all day, arriving about every 40 minutes.

There is also an express shuttle service on campus called Park and Ride. So far this year, there have been 2,055 riders, compared to 1,815 at this time last year. The shuttle stops in front of Maytum Hall, which is closer to academic buildings than most parking lots.

In the past, freshmen were not allowed to have cars on campus and this is something that is common at some other universities. This policy did not last long because most students would use an appeal system so to be allowed to keep a car on campus. According to Bennett, almost all of the appeals were approved, so there was no point in disallowing freshmen to have cars on campus.