Imagine this:
You just left your house to go to school. Backpack, check, phone, check, keys, check. You turn on your music and start jamming away as you drive your many miles to get to school. You’re in a decent headspace knowing you’ve finished your test that was due today and your paper is all set and printed, until you pull into the school realizing you’re about to head into a major war zone.
“Please! Please let there be a space. I can’t risk being late again.”
All you see are cars upon cars filling up the entire commuter parking lot with tons more circling around in hopes to maybe find one empty one. I swear it’s like a bunch of hawks just circling its prey. You drive slow and keep your eyes pealed as the rest of the hawks do the same.
Your anxiety increases as you see nothing opening up or being available. You circle once more. With luck a spot just opened up. You start to speed up a bit in hopes to get it. All of a sudden, a car coming from the opposite direction spots it too and somehow manages to get there just before you.
AHHHHHHHH!!! NOW WHAT?
This just seems to happen to you no matter what day or time; it’s always a blood bath.
I don’t know about you, but this tends to happen to me almost everyday I go to school. I can hardly ever find parking, and when I do it’s a godsend. But let me tell you, it really grinds my gears.
I shouldn’t have to fight for a spot everyday just to go to school; there should be space for everyone and then more space on top of that space.
At my school faculty and staff say that there’s enough space for all of us. They start by saying that we have 8 parking areas; which of course the biggest one being the dumping grounds for all of the residents’ cars. So even if you did want to park there, you would be parking in the far back. Have fun walking a mile 🙂
They also say to us to get to school early that way most spaces will be available (maybe don’t tell that to everyone next time).
There just never seems to be enough space to hold all of us and it’s really frustrating, especially when our parking lots are also used for other cars that decide to not park in their designated parking lots. I don’t know how many times I have seen student stickers and faculty stickers on parked cars in the commuter lot; which by the way, can receive tickets for. But then again, just this week I counted at least 5 cop cars in potentially good parking spaces for all of us commuters too.
I just don’t get it. There are so many other lots they could take, why ours? We barely have enough space as it is.
Like I’ve said in past posts, we just don’t get the recognition we deserve. I think people just assume that we won’t mind that our spots are taken for their convenience when that is really the biggest thing a commuter can ask for; a parking space.
All I ask is for more space and to actually care about your commuters. It sucks when a major commuter parking lot is covered in snow because that was the only lot the school let any faculty or staff park in so the rest of the lovely lots could be plowed to perfection. Couldn’t they just keep one of the million faculty lots open for them? Did they really have to use our lot, because now after driving in the elements and risking our lives to get to school we now can find no places to park because they’re all filled with snow drifts and the school just didn’t have time to plow it; whoops, sorry. It’s not like we can park in the faculty/staff or resident parking lots either, even though it should be when you can’t find a space.
Everyday I see empty faculty lots staring me in the face along with a big open field just waiting in my opinion to become a parking lot. I get it nature is important, but getting to the class I paid for is too. Sometimes I wish we could do something about that, because an extended parking lot in my opinion would be very helpful.
Well… maybe there is something we can do about it.
Like I’ve said in a past post, Commuter Services is a great place to talk about your concerns about anything commuter-related. So if there really is a problem at your school about parking, like mine, bring it up because maybe a change will happen. Maybe you could get another parking lot or having a better way of handling the wrong groups of people that park in your parking lot.
If we continue to complain about parking and do nothing about it then nothing will change because to everyone else nothing seems to be wrong. Take action.
To all of you parking lot survivors out there, I understand your pain and I wish you luck at your next battle. As to all you residents, faculty, staff, and random visitors out there, GET OUT OF OUR PARKING LOT!! Thank you 🙂
Committing to the Commute 