Parking registration begins; more questions arrive

Online registration for the 2006-07 parking permits has begun. Anyone registering by July 31 can have permits mailed to their home. Go to www.nau.edu/parking.

Send parking questions—or other questions—to Inside@nau.edu. FAQs will not run June 14 but will return June 21.

Read a compilation of all the parking questions and answers submitted through Inside NAU.

CORRECTION to June 1 issue: Most shuttle buses do not have bike racks because the increased time needed to load bicycles onto the bus causes traffic backups. Bicyclists are encouraged to ride on the bike paths throughout campus.

QUESTION: I keep reading ideas about how employees should bike or ride the bus to work. What about those of us that live outside city limits (Mountainaire, Doney Park, Parks, Bellemont, Williams, Winona, Leupp). I would love to ride a bus to work and not have to worry about parking and gas, but not everyone who works at NAU lives near a bus stop. What about these employees who must drive to work?

ANSWER: Parking options are changing, not being eliminated. You can still park on campus. However, you may not be parking as close to your office as you are today.

Q: Why do NAU employees have to pay to park on campus? Do employees of other Arizona state agencies have to pay to park at their workplaces? Does the president of NAU have to pay to park on campus?

A: Employees of many private and public agencies pay to park—including ASU and UofA employees who pay considerably more. NAU parking fees are used to pay for the campus parking garages, shuttles, for parking upkeep and repair as well as roadwork. Some fees also are used for the NAU Police Department. Without parking fees, these costs would come out of NAU's budget. Yes, the president purchases a parking permit.

Q: In my observation as a frequent user of the campus shuttle system, the current policy of running more and more buses through the cycle to improve service a serious drawback: There's no way to gauge the opportunity cost between walking and waiting. You have no idea when the last bus arrived or how long you can expect to wait before you get the next bus. The wait could be as long as 15 minutes. Every metropolitan bus line I've ever used has published and operated on a schedule of times for each stop, allowing the rider to make more efficient use of the service (and our campus traffic is certainly no worse than that of Chicago or Cincinnati). Will transportation services reconsider the reconfiguring the shuttle system to incorporate each stops on a specific timetable to make the system more user friendly?

A: Parking Services is working with the county transit system to install GPS technology on each bus along with six sign boards that will be placed in various locations on campus—four outdoor boards and two indoor boards that would track real-time departure and arrival of each bus. Parking Services' web page will also be set up to view route maps, real time departures and arrivals. Buses are scheduled every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. (7:05 a.m. for Route 2) to 6 p.m. They are scheduled every 30 minutes from 6 to 11 p.m. Routes and times can be found online.

As you point out, the shuttle service is not a metropolitan bus line, with its huge ridership, numerous buses and attendant fees. On-campus traffic varies considerably depending on the time of day, and buses may seem infrequent only because of traffic tie-ups at certain times. However, Parking Services will be adding more buses this summer to speed on-campus commutes.

Q: Do all letters of acceptance to incoming NAU students recommend that they bring a bicycle and a laptop? I think they should. Can the university afford to institute a bike rental program? Faculty would greatly appreciate students arriving at class on time and not having the bus system to blame as a plausible excuse. Cities in Europe, notably Amsterdam, have "free bike" programs in which the city provides "free" one-speed, "ugly" (conspicuously painted) bikes that citizens and visitors can pick up at convenient designated drop-off points and then drop them off at, or near, their destinations. Granted, Europe has an effective public ethic against theft of this kind of public property. I expect that all local bike dealers and local police would be happy to cooperate in supporting such a program—and encouraging this kind of public ethic. (Can we learn something from the grocers about their carts?).

Could NAU institute a "Western/HighCountry Little 500" spring bike race, modeled on—at least inspired by—the one at Indiana University that would encourage development of a "biking culture" on and around the NAU Mountain Campus?

A: Acceptance letters do not mention bringing bicycles or laptops. These items are left to the discretion of students and their parents.

Several U.S. communities also have introduced "free bike" programs. Usually, biking advocates solicit bike donations, do repairs and work with officials to place the brightly colored bikes for free transportation. NAU introduced a similar program several years ago with limited success. However, the university supports the idea behind this type of undertaking, but there are hurdles to contend with, including bicycle maintenance. Perhaps a staff or student group could accept this as a project.