Times have changed since Grandpa had to trudge eight -- or in some cases, 80 -- miles every morning through waist-deep snow to get to school. Through the workings of modern science and award-winning tinkering with parking policy by Facilities Operation and Management, increasing numbers of Dartmouth students can now forgo the character-building trek to class and ride high in their horseless carriages.
But making the trip in automotive style isn't always as easy as it seems. Parking spaces on campus can be few and far between, and the majority are reserved for the College employees, most of whom don't have the option of walking to campus. Fortunately, the vast cutback in College operations during Summer term means, in theory at least, fewer college employees in service, fewer students on campus and much more space available for students to park their cars.
And so it is afforded to off-campus residents -- and even their on-campus counterparts -- the chance to drive to campus with a better hope of finding a slice of asphalt to call their own.
"It's now easier to drive to campus because I can find a parking space," said off-campus resident Tim Grinsell '05, noting that he has taken full advantage of this term's parking free-for-all. "I drive to impress people," he said.
But not all students have found the abundance of parking a sufficient incentive to abandon their commuting habits and jump in their jalopy. Walkers -- and despite the odds, many of them remain -- maintain that they feel content with burning a few extra calories, even if driving could save them the trouble.
"I feel really weighed down if I have a car with me. I need to have my morning walk as part of my routine," Austin Larson '05 Larson said.
But despite the pleasant, walk-inducing summer weather and what would seem a general incentive to spend more time outdoors, students seem to be more apt to bring their cars from home to campus during the summer months. Though a non-driver himself, Sam Valverde '04 said that in tow with nice weather comes the desire to take both short and long trips -- in cars, of course. Two-thirds of the 15 students in Valverde's off-campus neighborhood drove their cars to campus this term.
"Driving is more convenient in foul weather or when you're almost late for that crucial exam," Kelly Sheridan '05 said. "But nay beware the knavish and vindictive Parking Operations lackey."
Indeed, despite the absence of nearly 75 percent of the Dartmouth student body in the summer months, those who remain may not park wherever and whenever they want. The College still requires that students obtain the usual parking permits issued during Fall, Winter and Spring term. Each permit specifies where one's car must be parked; a car parked in a lot for which it has no permit will be tagged with a ticket of $50. The Hanover Police Department, on the other hand, hits improperly parked cars with a $10 fine.
So while the pressure on campus lots has been relieved almost entirely thus far this term, resulting open spaces do not necessarily amount to a proclivity among students to drive to campus when they would have otherwise chose a different way, said William Barr, director of Fiscal and Auxiliary Services at FO&M.
During the rest of the year, though, the College has a nagging parking problem, according to Barr. To remedy the situation, FO&M undertakes considerable efforts to curb faculty and employee reliance on cars in commuting to campus. In recognition of these efforts, the College was awarded the distinction of "Commuter Choice Employer" by the EPA -- the only employer in New Hampshire to receive such an award.
Under the College's Parking Decal Buyout Program, employee participants receive a subsidy for commuting to campus in something other than a single-occupancy automobile. In addition, each participant is given four day-passes in the event that they must drive to Hanover. Barr estimated that the 175 employees who participated in the program helped open up about 100 parking spaces in Hanover lots during the year.
Dartmouth has also contributed funds to totally underwrite the cost of operating Advanced Transit busing, making it free for anyone who ride. Barr said that that fee reduction has led to an overall gain in ridership on AT buses.
