Transportation
The Tar HeelMonday, August 29, 19385
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$25 per year to finance that
construction.
"I was surprised mainly that most
people are willing to pay more for
parking to finance parking decks.
When we laid that out on the table,
we ran into lots of opposition," said
John Gardner, UNC transportation
planner since March 1987, in a July
interview.
"There's just not much land left.
We're operating under a lot of
constraints. We know people are
unhappy, and they have reason to be
unhappy, but there's a limited
amount of money (for more parking
and more buses)," said Gardner.
Parking on campus is much
cheaper at UNC than many schools
because it's controlled by the Univer
sity rather than an outside company,
he said.
"The parking spaces are all sub
sidized (based on costs to build a
parking lot with revenue bonds,
which are repaid over 20 years) even
though people dont realize that,"
Gardner said.
"The University is moving toward
not having control over parking,"
Howes said. When he came here 18
years ago, $10 to $15 bought a permit
for any spot on campus, Howes said,
and that price hasnt changed dras
tically since.
Most faculty respondents live
within five minutes of a bus route but
don't ride them, Gardner said, pos
sibly because they are able to get
relatively inexpensive parking
permits.
"Based on that, our permits are
underpriced, especially on North
Campus. We have to realize that
people are going to get permits just
because they have access to them,"
Gardner said.
Parking decks were suggested at
Manning Drive next to Craige Res
idence Hall or across from Carolina
Inn on McCauley Street or next to
the law school and Institute of
Government on Ridge Road.
The minimum cost for building one
space in a deck is $6,000, or $6 million
for 1,000 spaces, Gardner said. With
site work to make the deck attractive,
the cost for a deck at Craige would
be $12.5 million for 1,500 spaces.
Surface parking is considerably
cheaper at $1,500 to $2,000 per space,
but there simply is no space left,
unless drastic steps suggested by some
people such as converting Coker
Arboretum into parking spaces are
taken, Gardner said.
Parking decks dont make sense
until land value reaches $500,000 an
acre, he said, and UNC has reached
that point. They must be combined
with an increase in fees, he said.
"If we started today and just had
to build parking spaces on the land
we already have and charge what we
are now, we just couldnt do it," he
said.
The top rate for a parking space
for the year is $258, Gardner said,
but in any other city, that would only
buy a space in a gravel lot on the
edge of town.
"It's as clear as it ever was thai '
there's not enough parking or sites
for building. If we're going to con
tinue parking we need decks," he said.
Buses are better option
While Gardner said he was sur
prised at how few faculty said in the
survey they ride the bus, 49 percent
of all students had ridden Chapel Hill
Transit to campus. 14 percent of
undergraduates ride five or more
times a week, and 24 percent of
graduate and professional students
ride three or more times a week.
In the survey, students suggested
shorter headways on bus routes (the
interval of time between buses on a
specific route) and better evening bus
service, and Chapel Hill Transit has
reacted to those suggestions with
route changes for the fall
Town and University officials agree
that making the bus service receptive
to Chapel Hill's needs is crucial to
the town's future.
Buses are the best solution to
getting cars off the road, they say.
Other systems such as car- or van
pooling are relatively unknown to
students, according to the survey.
Most had never heard of Tri-A-Ride,
a matching service for carpoolers.
Stevens Systems, a consulting firm
in Greensboro, rated the carpooling
services in Winston-Salem, Greens
boro, Charlotte and Chapel Hill, and
Chapel Hill came out on the bottom,
Gardner said, although the town
should be a prime spot for the service
because of its relatively short travel
distances.
But David Bonk, the town trans
portation planner, said students'
schedules are not conducive to
carpooling because carpooling leaves
students without flexibility. Buses
remain a better choice, he said.
"Public transit in the form of buses
is less restrictive (than carpooling),"
Bonk said. "It's not as beneficial as
a car, but if you can't get the 6:10
trip, you can always get one at 6:20
or 6:30."
"We could drastically reduce traffic
if we increase the use of buses a little,"
Rimer said. "If we were able to shift
people out of their automobiles and
into public transportation, we
wouldn't have a problem. We have
to reduce peak traffic, which is the
biggest problem, not the average
traffic."
"We have to get people on buses
by denying them other opportuni
ties," Howes said. "That's the way
you're going to make it more attrac
tive and at a reasonable cost."
Park-and-ride lots don't work very
well because the wait for buses,
especially at night, is often too long,
Rimer said.
"What we suggest is doing a
demand-activated system where peo
ple call for a bus (to pick them up)
iplus a regular schedule," Rimer said.
"That would alleviate the fear people
have of being trapped by park-and-ride
lots. ;
"You cant get people to use
something if it isnt convenient. If that
means running at cost-inefficiency for
a while, so be it, to get people out
of their cars."
Satellite campus suggested
There has also been talk recently
of a satellite campus at Horace
Williams Airport, because the Uni
versity's space needs to continue to
grow in spite of a cap on enrollment.
"The University land by the airport
is a tremendously valuable asset,"
Howes said. "That makes it not
economically sensible to keep an
airport out there. It's large, well
located and relatively close to cam
pus. It reminds me of the Centennial
Campus (at N.C. State University)."
Suggestions for making such a
campus accessible include a light rail
system or a bus route connecting
campus to Merritt Mill Road and out
to the airport, located at the inter
See TRANSPORTATION page 10
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WlCAROLINA
DINING SERVICE
YOUR STUDENT DINING SERVICES
IMPORTANT NEWS
ST
Registration Card PIsk-up:
Students can register for a MEAL PLAN and pick
up their MEAL CARD in Carolina Court (formerly
the Commons- lower level Lenoir Hall) beginning
Saturday, August 27, from 10am-5pm and continu
ing Mon-tri., Aug. 29-Sept. 2, from 9am-6vm.
After this time you can register for the meal plan
during regular office hours (8:30am-6pm) on the
second floor of Lenoir Hall. Remember that there
is a $100 minimum per semester purchase requirement
set by the University for students that live in residence
housing.
To Off-Campuo Studcnto, Faculty & Staff:
CAROLINA DINING SERVICE invites you to open up
a MEAL CARD ACCOUNT. An account can be opened
for as little as $25 and you can add to it anytime dur
ing the semester. This will give you the flexibility of
being able to dine with us whenever you need to catch a
meal on campus, as often or as little as you would like!
UPCOMING EVENTS
r A Tasto of N.C.
Come enjoy a real southern feast highlighting
dishes that have made NjC. famous. Tfiis
special theme dinner is set for Sept. 20th at
Lenoir, Chase, and the Cutting Board.
Grand Opening of tho CAROLINA COURT
Come celebrate a special grand opening of the
CAROLINA COURT in the lower level of
Lenoir Hall. Formerly called the Commons,
the Carolina Court features an exciting array
of fast food options including made to order
heroes, specialty grill sandwkhesi whole pizza
pies or pizza by the slice, fresh baked gourmet
cookies, ice cream, and Colombtrsoft serve
yogurt. A great week of activities and specials
b set to begin Sept. 12th. :
FOE THE VHOLE SCOOP zboutivhst's go!ng cn ivtth
your Student Dining Ssnica rczd "Ttr Hzd
TitoTwC," Ccrolia Dining Sctvico's student
tteivsSsttsr. Look far It In your reams! .
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