​You want me to park where?

For the past few weeks, many Duke students have expressed concerns over a lack of parking spaces, for commuters and non-commuters alike, particularly in the Blue Zone. Duke Parking and Transportation services has responded inadequately to the increased demand for parking space and has failed to communicate effectively with students regarding game-day parking and alternative options. Though important to note that these problems are not unique to Duke and are generally less severe than at state universities where the cost of parking is even higher, the confluence of these and campus transportation problems we noted last week points to larger institutional failures that warrant redress.

Parking services in the past two semesters have been especially fraught with difficulties. The overselling of parking passes every year has resulted in students competing for spaces even on regular operation days that they paid for and rightly expected to be guaranteed. This problem has been exacerbated by ongoing construction that has cut down available parking spaces. Duke Parking and Transportation should feel responsible to look into more undergraduate student parking spaces on West Campus as it has done for the law and business schools. Further, the lack of timely directives from PTS regarding game-day procedure suggests that traffic control staff need to be better instructed on accurate procedures and equipped with information on alternative parking during those times.

In last Friday’s editorial we outlined a range of security concerns on Duke's campus and suggested a campus walk service, expanded Duke Vans coverage and the installation of security cameras as possible measures to take towards mitigating these safety issues. With such measures Duke can provide attractive transport alternatives that will encourage more students to leave their cars behind as they come to campus. Alternatively for our more than 8,000 graduate students, investment in a Duke or Durham bus line that runs between common apartment buildings and housing areas should be considered. New routes to service off-campus graduate as well as undergraduate students could curb the demand for campus parking given that students can travel to and from their homes with ease.

In order to move to a more effective transport system, PTS would need to address the concerns about bus and van notification systems. While they have improved in accuracy, week nights, weekends and unusual schedules like game and snow days have seen gross failures in reporting what buses are running. Particularly during peak time and weather emergencies, service information online and on the mobile app TransLoc have been misleading about hours and service limitations. Additionally the newer bus system is seemingly not well optimized for student class schedules. Of particular concern to the hundreds of students on Central Campus have been the C4 and the C5 that have drawn countless complaints throughout the year on Student Government’s Fix My Campus.

Although the system may leave much to be desired, students can take steps on their own to mitigate the effect on them of these problems. Students should consider the Zagster bike-share program, though Student Government and Duke should work on campus bike lanes that will not be menaced by buses. Students should also do their homework and be responsible travelers by familiarizing themselves with the bus departure times posted online to plan ahead for regular days. While Parking and Transportation are not to blame for every bus and van inefficiency, much work remains to be done given the recurrence of these frustrating issues each year.