You’re driving to school, you’re ten minutes early for your 8:45 a.m. class and you think, “I’m gonna be on time for sure.” You get to school and there is no parking. All lots close to school are full and you cannot park in staff parking. Your solution? Park far away from campus and be late for class.
Students have expressed that parking on the school campus can be irritating. Some refuse to park on campus and some have no other alternative.
Students spoke their frustrations about parking, “Parking? What parking? There is seriously no parking on this campus, at least not for students,” Idalia Rubio said. What Rubio referred was the abundance of staff parking on campus, all which have a priority to have full lots exclusive for staff and be closer to buildings and classrooms.
Stacy Toda, LBCC’s public information officer, shared details about LAC’s parking stall tally, stating that there are twenty parking lots in total at LAC, from which 7 are staff-exclusive and the rest are mixed for students and staff. Regarding how the parking lots are coordinated, Toda stated, “The college evaluates the number of student and staff parking spots every few years. When there is a construction that takes place that would displace parking, we try to do it in equal amounts. So if we lose 10 parking spots, we try to make them 5 staff spots and 5 student spots.”
Sara Cristin, an English professor at PCC said, “I love this campus for the fact that I do have priority parking. I teach at 4 different schools and this is the only school that I don’t get to pay for my parking pass and I get priority.”
Although she feels happy about her priority parking, she also feels a little discouraged about the student’s parking situation, “I feel like this school has so many staff parking, that some should be removed” said Cristin.
There are other alternatives to avoid driving to LAC because of the limited parking available for students there, at least close to the buildings.
Some may park at PCC and then take the available shuttle to LAC, but they have to be sure to be on time to take it, which is usually every thirty minutes. If the shuttle is missed, a quick solution would be to drive to Veterans stadium, park, and then wait at the shuttle there which will drive students to the buildings, an alternative of doing a 10-minute walk from stadium to class. Also, students who drive must be early, since they have to drive around the parking lots and the parking structure and may lose valuable time.
Or students can opt to not drive, but rather take the city bus. Long Beach Transit offers a reduced-fare student Transit Access Pass that you may find convenient. All of these are tips that could help students save time and manage to be in class at right time.