RESPONSE TO AUBURN UNIVERSITY PARKING SERVICES DIRECTOR

We were recently featured in an article by Eagle Eye TV. It dawned on me that I needed to respond to Don Andrae's "temporary solutions" in terms of students failing to find C-Zone parking on campus. In the article, "Andre encourages students to carpool, use the Tiger Transit and War Eagle Bike Share, and says that he is always open to suggestions on how to improve campus parking." 1. Carpooling is an environmentally-friendly way to get to campus. However, since Auburn University Parking Services oversells parking passes by a ratio of 3:1, how do you know that the people that decide to carpool will be able to find a C-Zone spot that is worthy of $80? They'll most likely end up riding the Tiger Transit, which defeats the purpose of carpooling in the first place. 2. The Tiger Transit option is heavily used by C-Zone students because the C-Zone spots are the only spots available to them and they must use the Tiger Transit. Also, the majority of students have classes in the morning hours, so Tiger Transit buses (especially the Park and Ride) are full from around 8am-11am each morning. This morning, I parked in C-Zone by the Intramural Fields and my Park and Ride transit was full INBOUND to campus at 9:30 am and full OUTBOUND at 11:00 am. 3. War Eagle Bike Share... We pay $80 for a C-Zone spot for you to tell us to ride a bike instead that has a cap on its riding time per day? (Reference: https://gotchabike.com/auburn-university/#how-it-works) You stated that you are open to any solutions to improve campus parking. I have provided some short-term and long-term solutions, and it's time we act on them. Madeline Lazenby mpl0011@auburn.edu