Opinion
The Battalion
Page 6B • Thursday, September 30,2|
One is the loneliest number
Page By MattIj
o
ne of the greatest
natural freedoms
in life is the free
dom of choice. When one
has the right to choose,
he can seek alternative
solutions for any given
problem. With regards to
parking, off-campus resi
dents of Texas A&M had
this freedom last year. But
the last choice they got to
make for parking was, “where will be a good
spot to park all year long?” Unfortunately,
that decision was not a choice, but merely a
ADAM
SCHARN
minutes for the next one. This wouldn’t
problem if the student could drive and
somewhere closer to class, but only a 1
have the luxury now.
Students don’t always park in the samel}
every semester. One semester, a student’s
classes may all be on main campus, making
Zachry the most logical choice. The next
semester, a student may be stuck on West
Campus all day. In that case, it wouldn’t
make much sense to park in Zachry andridi
Yell Practice all the way to West Campus
every day. Unfortunately, the only alternatii
this year is Reed Arena. Olsen Field is a
too far to walk, and the goal is not to ridetli
c
Limiting students to one lot ruins the new parking system, bring back the bk Mv
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suggestion to Transportation Services.
The suggestions of almost 7,000 commut
ers were not considered for long, because
so many did not get their first-choice lots or
even their second choices. These students
were instead put in the highly overcrowded
PA 100 lots in Reed Arena and Olsen Field.
The old system worked fine; there may
have been difficulty getting spots in certain
lots, but those who really wanted to park
there figured out a way. TS needs to real
ize giving each student one choice of where
to park is not enough, and reinstate the old
system of blue lots.
The way the system worked last year and
for so many years is simple. With the excep
tion of PA 50, commonly known as Zachry,
the commuter lots were on West Campus.
Some chose to battle it out in Zachry, while
others chose to just park in Reed or Olsen and
take the bus. Zachry was extremely difficult
to find a spot in, because so many wanted to
park there; but, where there’s a will, there’s
a way. Commuters inherently figured out a
system to get a parking spot, and it seemed
to work for the most part. Students are still
battling it out for a spot this year, but in Reed
Arena — not exactly a favorite place to park.
Those who chose to ride the bus from West
Campus had their own system. There were
enough bus routes making stops at these
parking lots to ensure students would make
it class on time; even if they missed one bus,
they could still catch another. This year, only
one bus runs by Olsen and two by Reed, and
both are usually overcrowded. Now, if a com
muter misses the bus, he may have to wait 30
bus. The other two lots close to West Camps jversitytoi
are Fish Lot and Horticulture Lot (PA 61
97), but those are no longer a choice. So,
student faced with this problem is inaCatcl
22. He could park at Zachry and take a
uncomfortable bus ride, or he can scanasea
of cars for one of the 2,911 spaces in Reed
Arena that have been assigned to 6,877 off-
campus Aggies.
With a ratio of 2.36 permits for every one
Perhaps pei
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parking space in Reed Arena, it is not likelytla tsametimel
a student will easily find a spot after lOa.m
Perhaps someone from TS should park at
Reed Arena one day. Then he can ride the
over-crowded bus and look out the window
at each stop to see all the empty parking
lots he was allowed to park in last yearasa
student, rather than battling for a place inaa
unpopular lot.
Beyond basic math, there is rarely just oik
solution to a problem. Confining studentsto
one parking lot does not fix much. Students
should have the right to choose where they
want to park each day. Not everyone will
choose the same lot, as was the case last year
thus opening up spaces in PA 100s, while fill «s\vereo|
ing the largely empty lots of “high-demand."
As the old saying goes, “If it’s not broken,
don’t fix it.”
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Adam Scham is a seniir
political science map
Tony Piedra • THE BATTALION
The parking system has its flaws,
but most complaints are unfounded
JIM
FOREMAN
W hile time-honored Aggie
traditions such as hump
ing it at a football game
and saying “Howdy” are dying, a
less desirable tradition has been
surfacing over the years: bad-
mouthing Transportation Services.
Any student who owns a vehicle
has done it at least once. It’s no
surprise that casual remarks of
annoyance have
turned into con
versations of outright spite. Perhaps
it wouldn’t be such a problem if the
complaints were based on fact, but
as is typical human nature, most
complaints are totally fabricated.
Let’s take for example a mail call
published last week. Manny Garcia,
Class of 2005, said, “UPD has no
jurisdiction over bike theft, that task
belongs to TS.” Garcia obviously
has not taken the time to find out
that not only is bike theft solely the
responsibility of the police, but TS
does not have the authority to arrest
or even detain a bike thief. Garcia’s
<<
Perhaps it wouldn't
be such a problem if the
complaints were based
on fact, but as is typical
human nature, most
complaints are totally
fabricated.
blatant disregard for the facts is a prime example of
students’ treatment of TS.
Parking has been the main issue regarding students’
resentment. In an interview with Rod Weis, director of
TS, Weis said most complaints came from fourth- and
fifth-year seniors who had never purchased a parking
permit before. Unfortunately for them, this year the
system is based on customer history with TS and not
academic seniority.
Many decisions were not left entirely to the dis
cretion of TS. Weis addressed students and student
leaders at public forums to get their input. While
many complain they never heard about such forums,
they probably just didn’t care at the time, consider
ing the Student Government Association launched an
impressive campaign to boost attendance. Those who
did attend were impressed with the improvements
being made.
Since Weis arrived at Texas A&M a few years ago,
he has made a number of changes that have captured
the attention of universities around the nation. Of
course, when you run the largest university transporta
tion system in the United States, you’re bound to turn
a few heads. One would think Aggies would take pride
in TS being nationally recognized, or at least in the
fact that A&M has 34,000 parking spaces around cam
pus, more spaces than Ohio State University, which is
home to 62,000 students.
Weis is probably one of the best administrators
suited for his position, not only because of his years
of experience in parking and transit or his strong work
ethic that grew from life on a farm, but because he is
the proud father of a current student at A&M. Being
directly affected by tuition increases, Weis has tried
to keep permit and citation prices
as low as possible. The increases in
permit prices are mainly the result
of the $3 million West Campus
parking garage.
“I think we spend a lot of our
time defending the decisions we
already made,” said Weis, referring
to decisions such as the purchase of
the new Tahoes that are frequently
scrutinized by critics. Little do
they know, purchasing the Tahoes
was one of the best business moves
taken by TS. When Weis arrived at
A&M, TS owned a number of old
Jeep Cherokees that were replaced
by the new Tahoes. TS received
Put the money making aside,
stop double-charging students
A s many students know, this semester Transporta-
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»PA 50 and
TS issued m
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how little 1
such a good deal on the Tahoes that the monthly
payments are actually less than the monthly cost of
maintaining the old Jeeps. Unlike the Jeeps — which
are practically disposable — the Tahoes will still have
some value when they are ready to be retired and sold.
The problem with students these days is that they
would much rather gripe about not getting the spot
they wanted (when they probably only listed one lot
at registration) than acknowledge the improvements
in parking that have decongested the roads and made
spots much easier to find in many of the former red
and blue lots. Of course not everyone can be satisfied;
if students think they have a legitimate complaint, it
would be much more productive to get the facts and
file a complaint at transport.tamu.edu than to gripe
about it. The new and improved Web site is actually
designed to be informative and not just to make it
easier to pay citations.
Jim Foreman is a junior
mechanical engineering major.
ERIC
BROWN
A s many students know, this semester Transporta
tion Services has implemented a new parking
plan to try and make parking more accessibleaoj
easier for students and faculty members on campus.
One thing remains the same between these two plans:
the designation of certain lots on campus as Twelfth
Man lots. If a student is assigned to a Twelfth Man lot,
he must move his vehicle to a non-Twelfth Man lot on
campus on Friday afternoons before 5 p.m.
seven those
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This new plan, however, seems like it revolves aroun ringittoshi
how much profit it can generate and has little to dowi
customer service. Because TS is charging students twice
to park in lots they have already paid for, the system must be changed.
The biggest difference between the old plan and the new plan is the way
the permit system was set up.
For the old plan, a student was assigned a permit based upon residency
status and would have a certain number of lots available to park in. Redh
were designated for students living on campus, and blue lots were designates
for commuter students.
In the new plan, a student is only assigned to one lot, based upon seniorit)
and residency status. By having the plan work in this manner, every student
is guaranteed a spot to park in his assigned lot — in theory
The problem with that, however, is that on football weekends, no permih
required to park on campus, so all of the non Twelfth Man lots are essential
first-come, first-serve.
If the student does find a parking space, but finds he or she needs to leave
campus, more than likely he will lose the parking space and not be able to
find parking elsewhere.
TS, however, guaranteed every permit-holder a spot in his assigned lot.
one finds that he cannot find parking available in any of the non-designated
Twelfth Man lots, he has the option of parking in his assigned lot, regardfa
of whether it’s a designated Twelfth Man lot.
This sounds fine until students learn that TS will charge them to park
that they have already paid for whenever they initially registered for a permit-
TS should concentrate on customer service rather than its profit margin.
The students and faculty who purchase permits to park on campus are cus
tomers who are just as important as the weekend visitors.
If students are forced to double-pay to park, they should explore other op'
tions besides Transportation Services.
TS has long cheated its most loyal customer base out of customer service
Students should be allowed to submit and vote on new parking plans. Tl^
is a world-class University with a lot of bright students. There is someone
there with a better and more efficient idea than the one currently used.
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J0NATHJ
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