RunawayDJ: A minor inconvenience

Parking... few things are quite as frustrating as finding a convenient and dependable space for parking. Our daily lives can be plagued with the chore, and despite being such a very small detail, it seems that its pertinent to our functioning. Think about how not being able to find a park can affect us; it can cause us to be late, it could be the cause of an expensive ticket (which would never seem nearly as worthwhile in retrospect), or even long and uncomfortable walks to your destination.

The instance where this has become a major issue for me has been concerning campus parking here at North Central College. We have a massive number of commuter students, plus a great number of resident students who must also drive. Unfortunately, however, there just doesn't seem to be enough parking during the week. It seems that as a result, the school has come up with the device called the remote lot. Which on paper doesn't sound bad. for first- year students it is a necessary evil where they have no choice in the manner. For upperclassmen, they have the option of parking on campus given only the decision to dish out an extra three hundred dollars. At the beginning of the school year after paying for tuition, books, and other tertiary fees, it can seem like a smart place to cut corners.

It's not.

No, really. The long term effect is subtle, and the costs of using the remote lot turn out to be more than those of the initial parking costs. The school boasts it's shuttle service which travels to the remote lot twice an hour to the car. This can be misleading; the shuttle leaves campus only at the top of the hour, the second time around the shuttle is coming from the Naperville shopping areas. (which by the way, you'll almost never use the second). But then you'll have those days where everyone needs to use the van or when they downsize to a mini sized van. What happens then? They're out of room... And you'll have to wait an hour before trying again. Have a doctors appointment you need to make? Sorry... You'll have to reschedule. And in some cases, such as trying to make it to an appointment you had to pY for, you'll immediately pay the price. Furthermore, consider how you'd maintain your car in the winter or haw you'd watch for prperty vandalism when your car is a mile away...

I digress; the point is that it is the responsiblity of a business or institution to ensure it has enough parking to service those they service... Question, how much would it cost to build a parking garage at gulags? What types of solutions could allow us to be more functional.?