Students with automobiles, regardless of whether they live on campus or commute, often complain about the difficulties of finding parking close to the locations where they work, study and live.
Other universities with similar problems of parking space increasingly have relied on extensive on-campus transit systems to alleviate these problems.
The University has 21,500 parking spaces, according to the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation Web site.
The site states that while parking spots “are located all over campus … some are in outlying lots that are a 10-minute walk away from the center of campus.”
Director of Parking, Transportation and Traffic Gary Graham said while students are hesitant to walk long distances from peripheral parking lots, the University employs contracted bus service rather than a campus-based shuttle transit system.
“Our campus transit system has no specific routes but is a door-to-door taxi service,” Graham said. “The buses and transit are two entirely different operations.”
According to Graham, there are seven bus routes extending to various peripheral parking lots on campus. Campus Transit, which uses three vans and operates predominantly at night, is not meant to drive students from parking lots to the center of campus.
Other universities with similar demographics to LSU have turned to shuttle service and other types of on-campus transit as a solution to long-distance walks between parking lots and other campus areas, relying on public busing only to transport commuter students from off-campus.
Melanie Hicks Kopp, a doctoral student in public administration at Florida State University in Tallahassee, said FSU students can sympathize with other universities’ parking issues.
“Parking is definitely the number one problem for students on campus,” Kopp said.
Florida State has addressed this problem with its “Seminole Express” shuttle system, a campuswide transit system with four routes traveling out from the University center.
Kopp said the service makes parking on the outskirts of campus a more acceptable option for students, since less effort is required to get between two points.
“We have the same problems with space as other universities, but we can see the improvements currently underway and the other methods being used to solve these problems,” Kopp said.
Kopp pointed out that two student-use parking garages are located at the FSU campus center, and a third is being proposed by the university administration.
“Since students pay the fees that allow for them to be built, it’s only right that students should be given the right to park in them,” Kopp said.
Graham said the campus Master Plan includes seven parking garages, but he does not know whether they will be primarily for student use.
“We are especially looking at three sites and determining possible funding and usage,” Graham said. “Right now, everything is very preliminary.”
Peter Alandt, assistant to the traffic coordinator at Texas A&M University in College Station, said his university’s system could be a great example for large campuses.
“We have four garages for students and faculty, and we’re working on a fifth that will have over 3,000 spaces,” Alandt said. “We also have an internal shuttle system with 20 routes that run during the day, seven entirely on campus and 13 that serve the off-campus community.”
Of course, such extensive transportation systems and garages come with a hefty price tag for students.
Florida State students pay $4.90 per credit hour for transportation services, meaning full-time students with 12 hours of classes would pay $58.80 per year. Students at Texas A&M pay $50 per semester and $25 in the summer to park and use shuttle services.
LSU students pay only $39 per year.
Graham said increased fees are not anticipated in the near future for University students.
Alandt said the best advice he could give both administrators and students at other campuses is to expand and utilize mass transit.
“The problems we do have come from people insisting that they must drive their cars on campus,” Alandt said. “Public transportation and shuttling is a much better option.”