Dear Editor:

I agree with many of the comments made in “Waking Up from the Parking Nightmare” in the May 1 issue. However, understanding the whole issue would help with future discussion from students. Nathan Miklos hit the crucial point about Transportation & Parking Services: It’s self-sufficient, and therefore must run like a business and not necessarily a student service. Increasing the number or frequency of Cityshuttles, for example, is an extremely expensive venture, the cost of which would be covered by current permit buyers. This would inevitably lead to increases in permit costs for students, staff and faculty, which is already set to occur every year for the next few years. Also, as the ridership goes up for the free service, the revenue generated by permits goes down. This is not a good balance to the supply and demand equation, especially since debt service will increase over the next 10 years to cover the new parking structures and the changing of shuttle buses to environmentally friendly vehicles.

The two-tiered system is an option, the logistics of which have been discussed in past Transportation Policy Committee meetings. It will be interesting to see how many commuters switch to the cheaper permit, sacrificing 15 minutes of convenience for savings off the original cost. The system currently provided by UCLA offers permits to commuters for $513 per year and residents for $630 per year. Should we adopt the same system and charge differently between students who live on campus and those who live off? Which lots would we designate as commuter and resident? Should students be charged to use the Cityshuttle so that permit buyers don’t have to cover the cost of this service?

These questions I have voiced to the committee, and I will continue until solutions are implemented. What other students can do is send in their own comments. T&PS doesn’t get much input or feedback from students, even though parking issues are some of the top issues on campus. Contact Greg Snee (director of planning and analysis for T&PS) or myself ([email protected]) if you have ideas, because I think student input is a powerful tool that has been underutilized regarding this issue.

— Josh Martino

A.S. Representative and Chair, Transportation Policy Committee