Park-and-rides back in business after month off

After opening four of UNC's park-and-ride lots to the general public for almost a month, campus officials tomorrow will resume enforcing permits.

The lots are part of the Commuter Alternatives Program, a branch of the Department of Public Safety, and were opened earlier this month in an effort to encourage students, faculty and staff to use alternate means of transportation.

It was one of the many ways in which the University tried to address the fuel shortage in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

DPS spokesman Randy Young said the effort was a success.

"I hope it opened the eyes of the University community to what (transportation) services are out there," he said. "I hope others have become aware of how easy it is to arrive on campus using the fare-free buses."

The lots involved were the Friday Center lot, the lot on Estes Drive, the Franklin Street lot and the new Chatham lot on U.S. 15-501.

Faculty, students and staff still can use the lots, but they must sign up for the free CAP program to receive a permit.

DPS officials encourage those without a permit to use the park-and-ride lots run by Chapel Hill Transit.

Mike Brady, president of the Graduate and Professional School Federation, said opening the lots to the public was successful in promoting change.

"It definitely made people more aware of the options that are out there," he said.

But the change also caused problems for students - particularly the many graduate students who rely on the lots to get to campus.

Brady said he had heard complaints of the parking crunch from his graduate student constituency.

"There have been problems with students finding spaces," Brady said. "In many cases, people have been parking illegally anywhere they can."

As the people displaced from the park-and-ride lots were forced to look to other transportation options available in Chapel Hill, Brady said he noticed that there is room for improvement in area transportation.

"It illuminated areas where transportation options can be improved," said Brady. "It points out the need to streamline the bus system."

And despite the parking problems some experienced, many supported the effort to deal with the fuel shortage.

"Most of the University community understood that we were facing major challenges, both as a state and as a nation," Young said.

Brady added that many graduate students were accepting of the inconveniences.

"People were very understanding of what this was intended to accomplish," he said.

But Brady said he believes the time is right to return the lots to permit parking.

"I think the change needed to be made at this time," he said. "We still need to focus on fuel conservation, but not discourage students from attending class at the University."

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.