By Yolanda Barragan
yolanda.barragan944@myci.csuci.edu
There are a variety of resources students may use and pursue in an effort to get around CI and the rest of the city without a having a car. Public transportation is the primary way students can get to and from campus, and also offers opportunities for students to make their way around Camarillo.
The VISTA bus service is available six days of the week, Monday through Saturday, and operates from 7 a.m. to 10:20 p.m. on the weekdays and 7:30 a.m. to 5:20 p.m. on the weekend. There are two primary routes offered directly from the bus stop at CI.
The first is from the CI campus to Oxnard, on C Street and Channel Islands Boulevard (by Centerpoint Mall) and Oxnard College, and the second is from the CI campus to the Camarillo Metrolink Station.
Bus passes are sold for $25 at the Transportation and Parking Services location on campus and are valid throughout the semester. Bus passes are also free to housing students who do not bring a car to campus.
From the Camarillo Metrolink Station, there is a free trolley service available every day of the week. The hours it operates are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and it runs from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday. The trolley makes various stops from the Ponderosa Center through Old Town and is available at the Metrolink station every half hour.
CI also has Zipcar available to faculty and students. There are two Zipcars available and they can be parked on campus, and the prices for renting the cars range from $8 an hour or $66 a day on weekdays to $9 an hour or $72 a day weekends.
A membership is required for using Zipcar with CI, but housing students without a car on campus can have their Zipcar membership fee waived and their first two hours free.
Bicycling is another way for students to make their way around. There are various bike racks around campus, and there have been bike lanes implemented into many major streets around Camarillo, making it easier and safer for commuting purposes.
There can be limitations to not having a car while attending college, but there are different ways to address that issue. Despite the negative factors that come with not having a car, there is the one satisfaction of not having to deal with parking.
