 |
 |
By Alicia A. Caldwell
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 4, 1996
Cars aren't the only vehicles having trouble finding parking spaces at the UA.Congested areas of campus are also unable to accommodate everyone who rides a bike.
"One word: Horrible!" said Anthony Pelligrini, political science freshman. "It takes me longer to find a parking space for my bike than for my car!"
"I have trouble parking my bike in the area around the Modern Languages building and it sometimes makes me late for my class," said Jussi Autio, undeclared sophomore.
Kathy Moulin, program coordinator for Parking and Transportation Services, said there are still areas where bike parking is a problem. Those areas include the racks west of the Memorial Student Union in front of Old Main, the courtyard east of Modern Languages, and the area west of Psychology.
Moulin said there is actually an abundance of bicycle parking campus-wide, but students just need to be willing to search for that abundance.
According to statistics compiled by Parking and Transportation, there were approximately 9,072 bike parking spaces last semester and the department has since added about 200 more spaces.
In comparison, there are, on average, only 8,000 to 9,000 bikes on campus over the course of any given day, according to the usage studies conducted by Moulin's office.
"Students need to be aware of nearby parking," Moulin said.
Moulin said the congested areas have as many racks or parking blocks as the areas can physically accommodate. In addition, Moulin made clear the fact that there are alternatives to parking in those areas.
She said, for instance, there are spaces open west of Modern Languages as well as to the west of the bicycle racks adjacent to the Memorial Student Union.
Moulin said students that choose to lock their bicycles to physical structures when parking blocks or racks are unavailable are not only subject to a $25 fine, but can also be charged a $20 to $25 immobilization fee if the bike is not registered with Parking and Transportation.
If a bicycle is not registered, Parking cannot verify the owner and immobilizes the bicycle to ensure that the fine will be paid.
"I had to lock my bike to a fence at McKale Center because there was not parking and I was late," Autio said. "When I came out, I had a ticket and my bike had been locked up with one of the locks from Parking and Transportation."
|
|
|