With every passing year, the steady migration of “S” spots to the outskirts of campus and the increase of “A” and “B” spots in prime parking locations becomes more apparent. The Transportation Policy Committee’s recent approval of a plan to replace approximately 300 “S” parking spaces with “A” and “B” spots only makes it more difficult for commuter students to park even remotely close to their classes or campus destinations.

In order to alleviate some of the strain of the proposal on commuters, Transportation and Parking Services should take steps to make the impact more evenly distributed among faculty, staff and students. Assuming that there actually is need for more “A” and “B” spots, such additions should not be done at the expense of “S” spots in central parking locations. Since the problem is not the number of “S” spots, but their location, adding “A” and “B” spots to North and East campus lots rather than central campus lots would help ease the burden on undergraduates.

One possible avenue that the committee should explore is limiting parking for on-campus residents, a strategy many of the UC campuses already employ. This approach would open up many of the “S” spots in the central campus lots that on-campus residents use as storage for their cars; communters would much more effectively utilize these spaces, as residents often don’t move their cars all week. Such a distribution would also be more equitable, as spots would likely go to students with nearby classes, and students’ vehicles would likely be parked only as long as they have class.