By TJ Ramirez
For many commuting students, parking at CI is no easy task. Parking spaces are limited, and it can be difficult to secure a spot when there is a high volume of traffic as students arrive for on-campus classes.
Aurora Rugerio, a third-year environmental science and resource management major, told The CI View, “I would drive 20, probably 30 minutes…depending on what time I got on campus, just trying to find a spot.” Ryan Orozco, a fourth-year business and political science double major, said, “I come a little bit early just so that I get a spot, but usually…there’s already people with their hazard (lights) on, waiting for spots like vultures.”
Finding a solution to this issue is not simple. CI has not implemented a strategy that has been utilized at other universities: building a parking structure. Unfortunately, a parking structure on campus is very unlikely for two key reasons: topography and cost. First, our campus is surrounded by a floodplain, which would not support such a building.
Second, a parking structure would cost around $20 million. Since Transportation and Parking Services is not subsidized by the University, this money would come from student fees, which would require an increase in parking permit prices. Lieutenant Chris Jetton with the CI Police Department explained, “A surface lot alone costs us…around $8 million just for 1,200 additional surface parking stalls.” Current parking fees are still paying off debt from constructing the existing campus parking lots. Plus, the pandemic has significantly decreased revenue from parking permits; Lt. Jetton noted that “this last year we saw over a $2 million loss in revenue.”
Because building a parking structure is unrealistic for our campus, efforts have instead been focused on encouraging students to take advantage of alternative transportation such as biking or riding the bus. An Instagram poll which surveyed 35 students found that only 20% of them used alternative transportation to get to campus last semester. With the College Ride Pilot Program, students can take the Ventura County Transportation Commission Intercity Bus for free. Along with other operating costs, student parking fees help pay for this bus service, which costs around $500,000 a year.
Another option available to students is CI’s carpool program. The carpool parking permit costs $195, the same as a regular permit, but the cost is shared between multiple students. It is also incentivized; the carpool spots are often the closest to campus buildings, and carpool permit owners are entered in a monthly drawing for prizes like dining cash or movie passes.
However, schedule conflicts and COVID-19 have made carpooling less than optimal for some students. Ayleen Trejo, a third-year political science and psychology double major, said, “I’ve definitely looked into (carpooling), but my roommates that also go to CI tend to not have the same schedule as me.” First-year student Auden Montville-Wood, a global studies major, shared, “I personally don’t feel comfortable with carpooling because of COVID-19 right now.”
Still, for those who can carpool, it is worth looking into. For one, carpooling reduces the number of cars on the road, which helps with issues like air pollution and traffic. Sharing the carpool pass can also save students nearly $100. Orozco shared, “I had the carpool pass two years ago and it definitely helped, but I feel like people don’t know about the carpool spaces.”
This knowledge does not change the often-frustrating experience of finding a parking spot before class, but it does help to explain the price of permits, which could help to reframe how students think about parking on campus. Though parking at CI is a challenge, that challenge is being met to the best of the University’s ability, and students’ concerns are not being ignored. Jetton remarked, “We want to be responsible stewards of the students’ money…so we’re doing everything we can to try to make it better with what we’ve got, and I just hope that everyone bears with us a little bit here.”
If anyone has questions about Transportation and Parking, they are encouraged to email parking@csuci.edu or christopher.jetton888@csuci.edu. For a more detailed explanation of the circumstances surrounding parking at CI, check out our broadcasting piece which accompanies this article at http://civiewnews.com/broadcasting/ci-parking-struggles/.
This article was first published in the February 2022 print edition of The CI View.
