U. parking policy causes inconvenience

The University policy that prohibits undergraduates from parking cars in the area between the access kiosks from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays has caused inconvenience for some University students.

The access kiosks are the two vehicle entrances located near Nassau Street and Faculty Road.

Although juniors and seniors whose vehicles are registered with the University may park any time of day in lots 32 and 33, the policy has created problems for students by barring their cars from campus during business hours.

The men’s club lacrosse team, for example, holds its regular practices at fields nearly a mile away from central campus and most of its players’ dormitories.

Though the team frequently has to move heavy equipment back and forth between campus and the fields, the University’s policy prevents players from driving it to campus.

“It’s very difficult to do so without bringing cars onto the campus before 5 p.m.,” Robert Edmiston ’11, the team’s co-president, said in an e-mail.

Other students who have succeeded in driving onto campus during business hours have been penalized for violating the policy and driving up to their dorms. Asma Saud ’12 said she was dissatisfied with the policy and has received several tickets for breaking the rules.

Patrick Wendell ’11, however, said he was not permitted to drive on campus even if he was not planning to park.

“You can’t even drive on campus to drop off groceries,” Wendell said. Wendell is the former executive editor for web for The Daily Princetonian.

Several students attributed the implementation of the policy to construction of the new Butler College complex, which began in the 2007-08 academic year, and questioned the reasoning behind preventing students from accessing their dorms during the day after the completion of the construction.

However, Kim Jackson, the director of Transportation and Parking Services, clarified the misconception by explaining in an e-mail that the practice is “a long-standing policy [enacted] to maintain a pedestrian-friendly campus.”

The campus, she explained, is incapable of handling the increased traffic that student access would create.

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“Internal campus roads also were not designed for heavy traffic and congestion,” Jackson said.

Other justifications for the no-parking policy, Jackson explained, are the University’s Campus Plan, which aims to promote a “pedestrian-friendly” campus, and the University’s Sustainability Plan, which outlines plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The University also has relatively few parking areas, Jackson added, another force driving the policy.

According to the University’s Transportation and Parking Services website, the goal of reducing greenhouse emissions is part of the Transportation and Demand Management initiative, which is “the application of strategies and policies to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles coming to and parking on campus by means of promoting alternative methods of travel,” including walking, biking and using of shuttles for transportation.