Freshman parking limits become permanent

After running a pilot program last semester that banned freshmen residential students from parking along the Academic Spine, officials said they are pleased with the program's results and will keep it in place this semester.

The program was instituted in response to consistent complaints of insufficient parking on campus. The program essentially bans residence hall freshmen from parking along the Spine from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., considered peak parking time at UB.

With constant lot surveying last semester and a new busing system, officials said there has been vast improvement across the board in terms of university transportation.

"The program has worked," said Maria Wallace, director of Parking and Transportation Services. "Lot conditions reflect that it's working."

Officials pointed to an October e-mail survey of residence hall freshmen as evidence of why the program succeeded. Out of a total of 2,360 participating students, 90.5 percent said they would continue to use UB buses and shuttles. Among participating students that own vehicles on campus, 93 percent said they leave their cars in residence hall lots.

Officials said the numbers from this survey demonstrate widespread student cooperation. Now that freshmen have become acclimated to the campus' transportation systems, they said ample room has been made in parking lots surrounding the Spine for UB's large commuter population.

"The program is successful and has fulfilled our original goal in freeing spaces in our lots," said Christopher Austin, coordinator of adjudication and transportation. "And the survey numbers are certainly encouraging that."

Officials said that while the survey's results are encouraging, other groups in the student body, such as commuters, were not surveyed. Austin said there weren't many commuter complaints last semester, but a survey could be conducted later on.

Regardless of survey results, students said they still have mixed feelings over the new parking policy's success.

Sarah Kraft, a freshman undecided major, said that bus and shuttle accessibility is adequate for her freshman commuting needs.

"I don't have problems with the parking policy, there is enough transportation provided for us," Kraft said. "I only have my car here so I can go to work on weekends."

Other students, like Kate Whalen, a senior anthropology and geology major, say the system has some flaws because it does not take exceptions or special cases into consideration.

"Such restrictions could be problematic for students with bulky objects to carry, like artwork or models, or for those that live on South (Campus) and have classes on North," Whalen said in an e-mail.

Along with new parking policies, students this year saw the arrival of a new bus company, Cognisa. The new parking policy created an added strain on the university transportation system but officials believe the new bus company has adjusted to the increased ridership.

"The efficiency of this year's busing system has allowed us to compensate for the influx of peak time loads," Austin said. "We have especially worked on clearing the South Campus loads."

Many students, like Stacey Sokolova, a sophomore medicinal chemistry major, said they have been impressed with busing this year.

"I haven't noticed the buses being any more crowded than last year," Sokolova said. "And I could totally see myself being late with the old buses, but this year is definitely an improvement. They run on time now."

With the enhancements in UB public transportation and the success of the current parking restrictions, questions have been raised about further curbing students' parking privileges. Proposals such as extending the parking ban to all residence hall students are a potential concern for UB drivers.

Though they haven't indicated any future parking restrictions, officials said they are satisfied with the current policy's effectiveness.

"The decision-making and assessments are an on-going process, and all will be gauged for next year, but so far we don't see the need for any more parking restrictions," Wallace said.

"We have made an extra effort to effectively handle the peak times for busing, and have open spaces in perimeter lots at the Center For Tomorrow, Alumni and special events lots," Austin added. "(Students should) be aware of our park-and-ride shuttles. They will prove to be useful when Buffalo weather settles in."