PARK: Rutgers must refine its transportation system for students
COLUMN: The Queue
Whether you are a first-year or a senior, living on campus or a commuter, you know someone who has a car on campus. Maybe you have a car on campus. Being a student at Rutgers comes with the knowledge that the parking situation is horrendous. Students complain that parking passes for lots on campuses are inaccessible or that the free street parking near all five campuses is pretty slim at best and nonexistent most days.
As college students, we simply cannot afford the $20 to $250 tickets that are handed out like candy by the Rutgers University Department of Transportation Services. Rutgers, notable for its high percentage of commuter and in-state students, should offer more opportunities for students with cars to make use of their vehicles and make campuses easier to navigate as a whole.
If you ask any Rutgers student, the bus system often finds itself on the list of things to complain about. Funny enough, owning a car at times is comparable to buses when considering convenience. Traffic during rush hour and the beginning and end blocks of classes prove to be the most challenging times on the streets. Every student can remember a time when they waited on an LX bus for more than 40 minutes to get to class.
You would think having a car is much more convenient, but if you hit traffic, you end up stuck in the same place as the dreaded buses. This creates a problem for both commuters and students with cars.
Having a car on campus is a necessity for a lot of students. More than 60 percent of students live off campus, whether that be Rutgers-affiliated off-campus housing or not. That means students need to find their own method of transportation to get groceries, toiletries and other daily necessities from stores. I utilize Amazon just as much as the next person, but getting things from a physical store is also really important, especially if you do not have a meal plan. Without access to a car, it is really hard.
In terms of academics, if you have classes on a different campus than where you reside, chances are that a car seems like it would be convenient. Sometimes, though, squeezing onto a bus against your will can get you to class in a more efficient way as finding parking close to classrooms is tough. Take Livingston campus for example. The Green Lot, the Yellow Lot, Lot 105 and Lot 103 are all on the perimeter of the campus.
Personally, I think Livingston campus is a relatively walkable one, but only one lot on this campus is directly adjacent to classrooms. Livingston campus is known for the Rutgers Business School, and the small lot behind the buildings is a poor excuse for convenient parking. The lots on Livingston campus are great, especially during basketball season when Jersey Mike’s Arena is packed wall to wall with fans and students. But during class, taking a spot in the Yellow Lot just to walk all the way to Beck Hall is asking a lot.
As a student-athlete, the buses are useless for 7 a.m. practices. I live on the College Avenue campus, and my practices take place on Livingston campus and Cook campus. I am lucky enough that many of my teammates have cars and are willing to drive us to and from practices and classes. But it is still a nuisance that Rutgers does not provide enough early buses for all its athletes — both in the NCAA and club teams.
I know my teammates have gotten their fair share of parking tickets, especially when they leave their cars parked on the College Avenue campus the night prior so we could all make it to practice on time the next morning. Rutgers should do more to support student-athletes — not just by providing merchandise or food after practice. Despite the post-practice dinner being the highlight of my day, student-athletes at Rutgers need a better system for transportation put in place.
An early-bird shuttle should run because it is hard to catch a 6:30 a.m. bus. You worry that if you do not make that one bus, you will be late to practice since the next one does not arrive for another half hour.
Not to mention, New Brunswick has a lot of nightlife. On both weekdays and weekends, the streets are lit up and littered with students and passersby alike. If you park on the street, your car may be subjected to damage or be the brunt of the newest Rutgers crime alert. As a solution, Rutgers could offer more parking garages and parking lots for students to park in because street parking is hard — no one wants to parallel park — and dangerous.
Since a lot of Rutgers students are from New Jersey, if you know anything about that, you would know it is a very drivable state. I live more than 30 miles away from campus, but I still try to make the effort to go home every once in a while, but having a car is necessary to do so. If I did not have friends who have cars from my hometown and also attend Rutgers, I would have to take a train or bus to New York City, then transfer trains and buses to head back to New Jersey — toward home — since there is no direct line.
Due to the vast majority of students being from in state, Rutgers should provide more support for those with cars and make New Brunswick more car-friendly. Whether you live in a house and have only a certain number of parking passes, or you live in a residence hall and pay the ridiculous price to have a parking pass on various campuses, neither is accessible or enough. The bottom line is this: Rutgers must refine its transportation system to benefit all students.
Annabel Park is a sophomore Rutgers Business School sophomore majoring in marketing and minoring in health administration. Her column, "The Queue," runs on alternate Tuesdays.
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