The Commuter's Voice:
Trying to overcome parking problems

As we all know, there is a parking “situation” on campus. Besides the pothole-infested maze that probably knocks our cars’ alignment out of whack, there are simply not enough parking spots for current Rider students. Although my heart goes out to the residents who experience this predicament seven days a week, I am mostly concerned for my fellow commuters. I find myself constantly agitated and forced to waste the precious academic-anticipatory minutes of my day searching for a parking spot up and down each lane of the Visitor’s and Commuter lots when I should be studying or preparing for my first class of the day.

Like most Friday mornings, I make it here 25 minutes before my class, yet I manage to be late because I’m too busy contemplating whether or not it is permissible to create my own spot, debating the pros and cons of such a decision and trying to figure out where I am supposed to park my darling car in this sort of dilemma. But of course, there is no one around to answer any of these questions or concerns, so I make my choice. I am more concerned with getting to my thought-provoking social philosophy class than about stalking potential students to battle so I can maneuver into their just-vacated spots.

It was finally apparent to me via the $40 ticket for “park[ing] on [the] roadway” that I found swirling around in the wind beneath my wiper that I had made the wrong choice. Maybe it was the other 10 or so tickets I recognized flapping on other cars as I approached my vehicle that was in the furthest possible spot in the commuter lot that made my situation feel unjustified. It also could have been the fact that there weren’t any other immediate options for me at the time when I decided this was the right thing to do as an academically minded student. Whatever the reason, I can’t help but question why such a “student-centered” institution could allow such a problem to continue in the first place.

Since I transferred here last spring, the parking situation has only grown into a nightmare: The class sizes are exploding and I find it impossible to park anywhere on this campus during regular class hours. I know I am not alone, thanks to the daily tickets and cars I see parked “on the roadways.” If this continues year after year as we admit more and more students without extending our resources, facilities and parking lots, our campus will be transformed into a traffic zone where one could learn to circle the black pavement in a fight for the first available spot for a chance to maybe make it to class each day for the much-desired academic experience.

The only solution I have been given so far is to “come earlier.” Like most of the other commuters here, I work both off-campus and super-early in the morning and get here with a mere 25 minutes to spare — almost the same time as my commute. Why should it take me longer to park and get to my first class than it should to drive the 27 miles it takes to arrive at campus? I don’t blame the University for the choice I made. I just feel this is one of the many decisions we shouldn’t have to make.

— Laura Gallaro