This semester, the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation dealt with rallies and petitions from Student Government in objection to the lack of commuter parking on campus.
On Sept. 14, SG Senate drafted a bill to petition the change of one-third of commuter parking spots in the Hart Lot to residential spots.
Meredith Westbrook, College of Music and Dramatic Arts senator, drafted the bill after finding that many of her constituents were no longer able to find parking in the lot.
About a dozen students gathered Sept. 25 on the Parade Ground to rally against the lack of commuter parking.
Though the rally didn’t yield a large turnout, it gained the attention of students in Free Speech Plaza and collected 116 signatures.
The day before the rally, Gary Graham, director of the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation, said he didn’t understand the concern.
“I have no idea exactly what their issues are, I’ve just heard they are rallying about commuter parking,” Graham said. “I’ll be happy to show them where it is.”
But, on Oct. 5, SG and the Office of Parking came to a compromise.
Graham said it would be impossible to dedicate the front half of the Hart Lot to commuters, but he would look into splitting the North Kirby Lot between residents and commuters in order to ease parking problems on the north side of campus, Westbrook said.
SG and the Office of Parking also reorganized bus routes this semester.
The Purple bus route, which previously stopped at East Campus Apartments, was altered to mirror the Gold route, which runs down Greek Row and onto campus.
Other routes were also changed to be more efficient and serve students better, according to a broadcast e-mail SG president Cody Wells sent Aug. 16.
The former Highland-Ben Hur Trail was changed to travel on Burbank, Ben Hur and Nicholson and make fewer stops. Its name was changed to the “Burbank-Ben Hur Trail.”
The new services also cater to students during the weekend, providing them with opportunities to explore the city.
Night Route B provides transportation to the downtown Baton Rouge area Monday through Wednesday from 6 p.m. to midnight and Thursday through Sunday until 3 a.m.
“We wanted to connect Baton Rouge to the downtown area,” Wells said in August. “Other SEC schools are centered around or provide transportation to the downtown area.”
In addition, a new route travels downtown to the Red Stick Farmer’s Market on Fifth and Main streets every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon, except on holidays and during home football games.
On game days, Tiger Trails buses also shuttles fans from the Tigerland and Highland-Burbank areas to campus.
Despite these changes, online forums like Tiger Droppings and Twitter buzzed with complaints about wait time and overcrowding on the buses.
“Sometimes it’s a long wait,” said Sarah Sandifer, nutrition sophomore, on Sept. 7. “Especially if you get there and one bus has already passed and it makes you late for class to wait for a second one.”
Though the new routes send more buses down Greek Row, even Greek students still saw room for improvement.
Mary Allison Johnson, business sophomore and member of the Chi Omega sorority, said Sept. 7 that buses were too crowded.
“The problem really isn’t always with waiting,” Johnson said. “But they are really crowded once you get on and you miss your bus because there are too many people on it already.”
Overall, students thought the best solution would be to add more buses.
Graham said budget concerns are the main reasons additional buses cannot be provided.
The University would have to spend $4,500 a week to add another bus down the Ben-Hur route, which would increase student fees.
 
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Contact Laura Furr at [email protected]