For years, parking has been a big issue among students at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). Today, commuter students are facing difficulties finding a spot.
Back in the 80s and 90s, Paul J. Olscamp, the 8th president of BGSU, said, “We don’t have a parking problem, we have a walking problem.”
To put this message to the test, BG Falcon Media toured the lots at three separate times to see if finding a parking spot was an issue.
We toured all of the commuter lots except Lots 24, L, I and Z because they are either mostly empty or off-campus. We toured the remaining lots at 8:30 a.m., 1:00 and 4:30 p.m.
For some background information, BGSU has a total of 20 commuter lots – 18 of these are on-campus, three are split between commuters and faculty and two are split between commuters, faculty and on-campus students.
In an interview with BGSU, BG Falcon Media learned there were 5,240 commuter permits sold this year, less than last year when 5,312 were sold. And, there are a total of 4,246 commuter parking spots.
“Please note, the number of issued permits does not directly reflect access to or availability of parking spaces on any given day as demand fluctuates,” according to a written statement from BGSU.
When touring the lots, we found that at 8:30 a.m., most lots have half or more of their spots open.
Lots 21, 34 and 31 were all completely full. Lot 2 had 13 open spots, Lots 28, 29 and 30 had a combined total of 25 open spots, Lot 1 had between 40 and 50, Lot 16 had about 50 and Lot E had 15 open spots. Half of Lots 18, 5 and M were open. And, the majority of Lots 10, 8 and 4 were open for students to park.
Lot 21, one of the full lots, is located near Greek Housing; Lots 34 and 31, both also full, are located by the Kriescher Quadrangle. These three are some of the lots closest to the main part of campus, ranging in walk times to Central Hall from three to four minutes.
Lot 10, which had the majority of its spots open, is located at the Slater Ice Arena, an 11-minute walk to Central Hall. Lot 8, which also had the majority of its spots open, is located at Falcon Heights, a 10-minute walk to Central Hall. Lot 4, which also had the majority of its spots open, is located behind the heating plant, a nine-minute walk to Central Hall.
At 1:10 p.m., we found that all of the smaller, closer lots were full and the larger lots further from campus were open.
Lots 21, 2, 28, 29, 30, 34 and 31 were all full. Lot 5 had 10 open spots, Lot 1 had five, Lot 16 had 6, Lot 8 had 40 and Lots E and 4 each had 25 open spots. Half of Lots 10, 18 and M were open.
Lot 2, one of the full lots, is located near Greek Housing; Lots 28, 29 and 30, all also full, are located by the Kriescher Quadrangle. These lots are some of the closest to the main part of campus, ranging in walk times to Central Hall from three to four minutes.
Lot 18, which was half open, is located at Perry Field House, a 12-minute walk to Central Hall. Lot M, which was also half open, is located at Central Services, a 16-minute walk to Central Hall.
At 4:30 p.m., none of the lots were full. At this point, the majority of commuter students had left campus.
During our test, we saw students parking in the grass at 1:10 and 4:30 p.m. in Lot 8. At these times, Lot 8 had a lot of open spaces.
One freshman student, Laci Muir, studying education, said she’s had to park in the grass in order to make it to class on time.
“I’ve spent so much time searching that I had to park in the grass or else I was going to be late,” Muir said. “I didn’t know if I was allowed, but I saw other students doing it.”
Muir has to arrive on campus at 8:30 a.m. just to find a spot, as her first class isn’t until 11:30 a.m.
“If I get here at 10:15, all of the spots are full,” Muir said.
Her favorite spot to park is Lot 21, which was full at both 8:30 and 1:10 times. Most of the time, she has to park at Lot E, across from the Bowen-Thompson Student Union, which had open spots at all three times.
Muir calls the parking situation here “ridiculous” as she has had to miss class due to not finding a spot.
“I checked every single commuter lot and there were no openings. So, I had to park in Lot Z, which is a 20-minute walk,” Muir said.
Lot Z, located at 400 E. Poe, is exactly a 20-minute walk to Central Hall.
“BGSU should do something about this; it’s very frustrating,” Muir said.
BGSU recommends taking the shuttles to and from parking lots.
The Orange Main shuttle takes students close to Lots 4, E, 8, M, 18, 34, 31, 24, 28, 29 and 30. The Yellow Falcon Express adds Lots 5, 1 and 16 to this list. This leaves out Lots 21, 2 and 10. Lot 10, as said before, has an 11-minute walk to Central Hall.
With enrollment rates continuing to climb, students may have to wait a while to get their parking fix.
