Parking on all school campuses is always a problem. Depending on a student’s schedule, they may be one of the fortunate ones who arrive at school a few minutes before class and have a wide selection of parking spaces to choose from or on the other hand, there are the students who come to school half an hour early just to ensure that they will find a parking space and not be late for class.
Senior Research Analyst/Survey Coordinator, Sharon Xu states, “The enrollment status for students is 35,554 and the number of faculty employed is 2,209.” There are approximately 13,600 parking spaces available to students on the CSULB campus. These parking spaces are part of the General Lots which include lots, 1, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20 and parking structures 1, 2 and 3.
For the 2010 Fall Semester, the General Auto Rate was $123 dollars for a parking pass, $30 dollars for Motorcycles and $2 dollars for hourly parking at all parking meters; annual passes are also available, the cost for this parking pass is $243 dollars. On 1 July 2010 the daily parking permits which can be purchased at the yellow dispensers, were set at the cost of $5 dollars. Parking passes are available for purchase online, however there is an extra charge for using a credit card as a method of payment.
On campus you will find parking spaces that are reserved for carpool, which are for vehicles with two or more people. There are 267 carpool spots available. These spaces are open to students, staff and faculty. A complete carpool application is required of those interested in using this space; there are no additional fees are required. Other special reserved parking spaces are the handicap spots; there are 290 of these spaces on campus, and guest parking.
The fine for both parking without a parking permit and parking in faculty spaces with a student parking permit are $48 dollars. According to the Administration Assistant II of Parking and Transportation Services Shonnick Anderson, 11,664 of these tickets have been issued so far this fall semester. The most common complaint the Transportation Office receives is regarding citations written to those who have parking permits. These issues are resolved through the administrative appeal process, which was mandated by Assembly Bill 408.
Although students may have to come to school early to find parking, the faculty faces a larger issue. There are 2,183 faculty parking spaces available which are not sufficient enough in accommodating the number of parking spaces needed. Faculty members are required to purchase parking permits as well, which varies based on their units; however the average cost for a parking permit is between $60 and $70 dollars.
Though it may be hard to believe, parking fines have one positive and beneficial outcome. Sustainable Transportation Program Coordinator Elissa Thomas says, “All Rideshare Programs - the U-PASS, the shuttles, Zimride, etc. - are funded entirely through citations - parking tickets.”
One way students may resolve any issues they may have with finding parking spaces and arriving to class on time would be to use Zimride, one of the Rideshare programs offered at CSULB. This is a method of transportation in which you may allow other students to carpool with you, or be one of the students who carpools with others.
Zimride allows you to find friends, classmates or others on campus who you may share a ride to school with. One of the great benefits of Zimride, along with the easy and accessible transportation, is the opportunity to meet other students who you may build friendships with. Not only does Zimride assist in helping CSULB students find rides to school; it is also a program that helps with carpooling for other occasions. Zimride CSULB is only for the faculty and students. Elissa Thomas states, “Zimride has grown to over 1125 carpoolers.”
Other methods of transportation that CSULB encourages students to use to commute to campus, in order to reduce the impact on the parking spaces and traffic, are the buses. The Long Beach Transit, the Orange County Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Transit Authority provide bus routes to CSULB. The routes for the Long Beach Transit are 81, 91, 92, 93, 94, ZAP, D, 171 and 173,Orange County Transit Authority routes are 1, 50 and 60, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority has one route, which is 577X.
(Photo by: Sarah Temori)
