Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

UF Students and staff who commute to campus have to allot more time to account for parking and incorrect bus schedules because there is insufficient parking on campus and traffic often delays buses.

I believe this problem can be extended to other college campuses, not just UF. From personal experience, I know that students at UCF also experience issues with trying to find parking and the amount of time they waste by trying to do so. With that, I am fairly confident that this opportunity exists on other campuses.

            Like all opportunities, this one has a few boundaries. It doesn’t apply to all students and staff, just those who are off campus and commute to campus daily. Additionally, some staff members have designated parking spaces and do not have any problems wasting time driving around to find parking like students do.

            Some people may not be as bothered by taking the extra time to allot for the inconveniences in this opportunity. Perhaps they already need to be on campus earlier and don’t mind leaving an hour early so they can find parking.

Interview 1: I interviewed my roommate who relies on the Gainesville bus system to get to campus during the week. At our apartment complex, we have about five different bus routes, 3 of which go directly to campus. She said that she uses the RTS app on her phone to see when the buses are coming, and usually it is accurate, but she’s had some instances where it’s wrong and she ends up missing the bus and waiting another 20 minutes for another one which almost makes her late to class. In order to avoid being late, she said she tries to leave our apartment complex at least an hour before her class actually starts.

Interview 2: My second interview was my friend who owns a scooter. She said it’s the only thing she uses to get to campus. I asked her how often she runs into problems trying to find scooter parking near her classes and she said she hardly has problems with that. At certain times of the days, she said that some scooter parking areas are more crowded than others, but that she can usually find another area close by that has spots. She said she never leaves for campus more than a half an hour earlier than her class’s starting time.

Interview 3: My third interview was with my friend who drives to campus and then takes the bus from the commuter lot to his classes. He said he first experienced issues with parking the second week of classes. He has a 7:25 class, and figured that parking wouldn’t be bad since it was earlier in the day. However, he said that the commuter lot was nearly full when he got there and that he was lucky enough to find one of the few spots left. Since then, he leaves his house at least an hour before his class so he has time to find parking. I asked if he’s thought of any other options to get to campus, and he said that not many buses run near his neighborhood, so driving to the commuter lot is the best option for him.

Interview 4: My fourth (and brief) interview was with a random guy I saw unlocking his bike near Marston. After making some small talk, I found out that he lives off campus and actually owns a car in addition to his bike. I asked what made him take his bike to campus rather than his car, and he said it was because riding his bike forces him to exercise. While he’s not wrong, I asked if there were any things that discouraged him from taking his car instead. His answer was that he didn’t want to pay $80 for a parking decal when the probability of him actually finding a parking spot is so slim.

Interview 5: The last person I interviewed was a friend who lives on campus and doesn’t actually commute to class like the people I previously interviewed. I wanted to see the perspective of someone who doesn’t specifically have this need at the moment. Since she lives on campus, she usually walks to class. I started asking her about what her housing plans are for next year, and if her potential commute to classes would influence her choices of where she lives. She doesn’t own a scooter, but has a car, so she said that she was thinking of driving to campus. I told her about some of the issues people who commute to campus have and after debating it for a while, she said, “Well maybe I’ll just get a scooter.”

After interviewing these people, I found that this opportunity definitely exists for off campus students. However, it seems like it’s not as much of a problem for students with scooters or those who choose to use bikes. I learned that the “audience” for this problem is slimmer than I originally thought, however it is still a very common problem.