Beginning next year, Duke students living off campus will have a new way to help promote a cleaner environment, save money-and get a better Blue Zone parking space.
With the new carpooling initiative proposed by junior Sunny Kantha, Duke Student Government's vice president for athletics and campus services, seniors and juniors in off-campus apartments will have the opportunity to form groups of four or more to obtain a free parking pass for the Blue Zone.
The program is intended to solve both pollution concerns and Blue Zone traffic congestion.
"I want to live off campus next year and it doesn't make sense for everyone to drive their own cars to campus every day," Kantha said. "Even roommates will drive separately if they have different classes."
Ideally, students will carpool with peers living in the same apartment complexes or those who have similar class schedules, making the carpool most convenient, he said.
The true incentive to the new program, which Kantha said he hopes will make it most appealing, is the guarantee that students will receive parking in the first Blue Zone lot on the south side of the area, which has the shortest walk to campus.
This lot has 132 parking spaces and Kantha estimates that a maximum of 80 groups will apply for the pilot year. Any remaining parking spaces in the first lot will remain available to other students.
If in the future there are more than 132 carpool groups, however, cars will be allowed to park in the first left-hand side lot on a first-come, first-serve basis each day. Additional carpool groups will get spaces in the next closest lot.
In order to make carpooling more feasible for students with different schedules and in case of emergencies, each student in a carpool who has his or her own car will receive 10 free passes each semester in case they need to drive separately.
The passes will only work for one day each, but can be used multiple times during that day and are transferable among students, allowing someone who does not need all 10 to share them with friends, Kantha said.
Since the program will provide free parking passes, Parking and Transportation Services may lose revenue, PTS acting director Chuck Catotti wrote in an e-mail. Reducing campus traffic, however, may prove to be worth more than the lost revenue, he said.
"If the program is wildly successful and a lot of students participate, revenue from student permits could go down substantially," he said. "We will take measures to deal with this if it becomes necessary. Having said that, the cost of reducing demand, whether [it is] foregone revenue or actual expenses, is generally less than the cost of building and maintaining additional parking facilities."
The program, in the works since December, has been approved by Vice President for Campus Services Kemel Dawkins.
"The success of the one-year pilot hinges on students following the rules of the program," Melissa Harden, assistant director of parking operations, wrote in an e-mail. "If large-scale abuse occurs, the program will not be continued."
In an effort to reduce program abuse, PTS will check with Residence Life and Housing Services to ensure that students applying for the passes actually do live off campus. Students will not be able to obtain a regular Blue Zone permit if they participate in carpooling.
Some students, however, said they would rather buy their own parking permits because it allows them more flexibility.
"I would prefer the cut-throat Darwinism of the current situation to any socialist or collectivist regime of carpooling," said junior Dan Haaren, who plans to live off campus next year. "What they really need is a moving sidewalk from the back of the Blue Zone to the front, or a ski lift, because it's kind of hilly."
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