Thousands of students commute to all of ASU’s campuses, with the Tempe campus being the most trafficked. This doesn't even include the number of visitors that come to campus for any number of reasons. Driving is the primary form of transportation in the metro Phoenix area and even with the emergence of the light rail, parking on campus remains in high demand. There are numerous structures and parking lots around campus, yet somehow finding parking is still a big to-do.
The most difficult part in finding parking on campus is that slowly but surely the free parking spots are disappearing. If someone needs to park for just a short time, there are few spots that you can leave your car without paying for at least an hour. The lots that were previously open for temporary parking now have meters. The lots that were once open at night are now closed even later with no exceptions on weekends. To make matters worse, Parking and Transit Services has officers trolling the lots until the last few minutes giving out tickets.
Ticketing is another common issue that students and visitors have to fear. If you don’t make it back your car the moment your meter runs out, you’ll be sure to find a little yellow envelope tucked beneath your windshield wipers. If you get more than one ticket, the price of the tickets begins to escalate.
Now, there are definitely instances in which people deserve tickets, but the escalation of ticket prices does not necessarily mean that those people will get the hint. And for those who just have the unfortunate luck of getting more than one ticket, they are being doubly punished.
Make sure when you get a ticket you read the back in its entirety because it will have — in fine print — details about the ticket that you wouldn’t know otherwise. For example, if you don’t pay the ticket within 30 days, regardless of whether or not you’re in the process of appealing the citation, you can still receive a late fee. The appeal process is pretty self-explanatory, but it definitely takes some time. The unfortunate thing about PTS appeals is that it is completely up to the appellate officer to decide whether or not you are worthy of forgiveness, and sometimes a simple “I didn’t make it back in time” just doesn’t cut it.
Fortunately for us ASU students, there are bikes, longboards and buses that can help us get around campus. For those of you who live a little further, Park and Ride is a great option to get to campus without paying an arm and a leg for on-campus parking. Hopefully when PTS realizes that it is overcharging ASU students to park on and around campus, it will make more parking options that support that average struggling college student.
Reach the columnist at ybrewste@asu.edu or follow @jbrewzki on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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