With the recent warm and sunny weather looking like it may actually be here to stay The Rocket staff thinks that the cold and rainy weather we have been accustomed to the past few weeks may also taking some of SRU’s parking problems with it on its way out the door.
According to a poll ran by The Rocket on Twitter this week, 63 percent of the 137 participants said they are more likely to drive to campus when the weather is bad. One of the biggest attributing factors to parking struggle on campus is that people who live in some of the closer off-campus facilities still drive to class in the morning. These people, who could walk to campus from places like Campus Edge, University Village and The Grove, take up parking spots that true out of town commuters need. Presumably, the nicer weather means that more people will walk to campus in the morning instead of driving, freeing up parking spots for people that do not have any other option of getting to campus other than driving.
The other option to get to campus is to take the Happy Bus. Only eight percent of participants said that they take the bus when the weather is bad. The Happy Bus stops at many of the major apartment complexes and at multiple places on campus. The buses also travel on a regular schedule, which makes them a rather reliable option for getting to campus whenever you might need to leave. SGA presidential candidate and current Vice President of campus outreach, Dallas Kline, recently said that SGA might be looking into improved signage at where the Happy Buses stop and that they want to increase their promotion and distribution of the bus schedule.
While all of this should, in theory, help the parking problem some it eventually all comes down to students actually doing these things. The Rocket staff understands that you do not wake up every morning in the mood to walk all the way to campus, but even just walking a few times a week would help the problem is everyone did it. SRU’s administration has been coming up with ideas and working on solutions to parking, but right now nothing is close or even decided upon. Until then the best we can do is help each other out either by walking to campus when we are able or by taking the Happy Bus so that way people that really need parking spots will have access to them.
