After paying over $100 for a parking pass, LSU commuters play a game of luck each morning to see if they can find a spot in the overflowing campus lots. Students drive in circles, desperately searching for a spot as the time to class ticks down.
Parking on campus has taken me up to an hour and made me late to class multiple times. The first couple weeks of school are stressful enough without having to spend a chunk of the morning scouring for a spot. The commuter lots can be seen completely full for a large portion of the day, and students living just a few miles off campus now have 45-minute to an hour-long commute simply because of overcrowding and traffic.
Tia Thomas, an interdisciplinary studies senior, parks on campus twice a week. Thomas has been late to two classes because of difficulty finding a place to park.
“Parking is a hassle,” said Thomas. “There are very rarely any parking spots. I always have to wait for someone to come out.”
I’ve experienced the same. Having to wait for someone to pull out of a spot is a parking method based on chance. Even if someone happens to pull out of a spot near you, you have to be the first one to get in it, and students play dirty when parking.
Brian Favela, director of LSU Parking and Transportation Services, points to the ParkZen app, which was designed to help students find parking on campus. The department has also established Geaux to Know, which allows students and faculty to receive email alerts about parking and transportation information on campus.
Favela said the department is also implementing a mobility plan that was created as part of the Comprehensive and Strategic Campus Master Plan. Favela said this plan will help with the parking issues around the denser parts of campus.
The overall focus of this plan is improving walkways, promoting programs involving bikes and scooters and making use of Tiger Trails to provide more transportation options for students.
Favela says the mobility plan will create 2,000 Park & Geaux spaces upon completion. Park & Geaux allows commuters to park and ride a shuttle into the core of campus.
With many more of these spaces, the congestion in other commuter lots will be reduced, Favela said.
“[Parking and Transportation Services] will continue to source available technology to improve the parking experience and are actively working to get lot occupancy information out to our community in a meaningful way,” said Favela.
The department will communicate ongoing improvements through Geaux to Know emails.
While this program sounds promising, it’s only in the first stage, meaning it will likely take a few years to fully resolve the parking problems plaguing students.
Parking and Transportation Services are working hard to help students, and things may improve for commuters in the coming years.
For now, though, plan to get to campus early if you want to make it to class.
Kate Beske is a 19-year-old journalism sophomore from Destrehan.
