It’s an issue every year, but with increasing enrollment at John Brown University, the number of parking spaces available to students is running short. And with only X amount of spaces to choose from—unless you want to get a $40 ticket—the options can be limited.
There is a considerable amount of cars on campus. These include cars that belong to faculty, staff, on-campus students and commuters. While not all of these cars are on campus at the same time, peak times—such as during chapel—cause complications for drivers, especially those who live off-campus.
Fortunately, commuter students have a variety of parking lots to choose from, making their trek to classes a little easier. However, at certain times of day, commuter students find their designated lots completely full and waste precious time searching for a space, or parking across campus and being late for classes and chapel. In this scenario, no one is a winner.
This is why we The Threefold Advocate want to encourage commuter students to carpool with housemates and friends to campus. Especially for students outside of walking distance, this would be a great way to cut down on the number of cars on campus.
Some students may push back, saying that carpooling is inconvenient because their housemates have different class times. However, if you are at school for an extra hour or two waiting on your carpool buddy to get out of class or finish up with a meeting, this can be a great time to do some homework or catch up with your friends who still live on campus.
Not only would carpooling help solve the problem of overcrowded parking lots, but it would also be good for the environment. We all like to pitch in and recycle, conserve water and shop at thrift stores, so why not cut back on our emissions? Find a commuter friend with a Prius and you’ll be ultra-green.
Carpooling can even be economical if you are commuting from Springdale, Fayetteville, Rogers or Bentonville. Splitting gas money is one of the biggest money-savers available in college, so take advantage if this is an option for you.
Since extra parking spaces aren’t going to materialize out of thin air—no matter how much you pray for them in your rush to get to chapel before missing the window of time to scan in for credit—the best solution available is to cut down on the number of cars on campus. Carpooling is a simple and effective solution for many and would benefit the majority of commuter students.