Posted on Aug. 20: ACT Office combats parking problems

It's only a matter of weeks until you'll see them. Slowly circling, driving up and down each and every lane, looking for a parking spot. Perhaps you'll be one of them. Perhaps it's time to consider other options. Parking & Transit Services is hoping you will.

The newest addition to Parking & Transit Services is the ACT (Alternative Commuting and Transportation) Office. Co-ordinators Jen Dawson and Daryl Bender will work with commuters to get people to McMaster on a daily basis by means other than the “single occupant vehicle.”

Bender, a transportation planner, spends part of his time working for Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited, a company which offers transportation planning services to public and private sector clients. His primary interest is transit. Dawson, who worked for Green Venture, is interested in the environmental aspects of commuting.

Together, their first interest for McMaster is promoting carpooling. “If one-third of people carpooled to McMaster, that would solve quite a lot of problems with parking,” says Bender.

To facilitate carpooling, McMaster now subscribes to www.carpool.ca, a Web site that will match people based on a variety of criteria to ensure that carpooling is as successful as possible. Bender encourages all people to register.

The ACT Office also encourages people to commute in a variety of other methods. All full-time McMaster undergraduate and graduate students are supplied with a transit pass for the HSR (Hamilton Street Railway). Bender and Dawson are working with the HSR to improve service, and possibly extend service to staff and part-time students.

GO Transit also offers frequent daily express bus service to campus from Mississauga, as well as combinations of rail and bus service along the Lakeshore corridor between Toronto and Hamilton. As well, Bender and Dawson encourage people to walk, bicycle, or inline skate to campus.

Both ACT office co-ordinators practice what they preach. Dawson, who does not have a driver's licence, commutes to work by transit, and Bender bikes or takes transit.

The increase in demand for parking spaces was the genesis for the ACT Office. Says Bender, “John Abraham, (Parking & Transit Services manager), saw the crunch coming and decided that something had to be done.”

Rickie Pattenden, office manager, Parking & Transit Services, says, “There are approximately 4,500 spaces on campus but that is a moving target with each new construction project … This year, we had 2,500 applicants for undergraduate parking by the deadline, and were only able to accommodate 2,100. This marked the first year that we had to actually go to a lottery for zone 6 undergraduate parking. Thus, an instant waiting list of 400 applicants was created immediately, even though these 400 had their applications in prior to the deadline.”

The ACT Office serves both staff and students. While carpooling may suit more staff members due to their regular schedules, transit is perhaps a more economical option for most students.

The ACT Office's first event was offering free one-day bus passes for permit holders on Welcome Day, in an effort to alleviate parking stress on campus. Thirty permit holders contacted Parking & Transit Services and offered to walk to campus or take the HSR rather than bring their cars. Says Pattenden, “We had over 1,000 visitor vehicles to campus on Welcome Day … those who left their cars at home that day really did do the campus a service and we thank them.”

The staff at Parking & Transit Services, and especially Bender and Dawson at the ACT Office, are hoping more commuters will follow these 30 people and consider other ways to get to work.

Concludes Bender, “Our goal is to make people feel good about making alternative transportation choices … people have to make the shift and we're here to help them find a shift that suits them well.”

For more information on alternative commuting and transportation, contact the ACT Office at 905-525-9140 ext. 24772.