The scarcity of parking spaces on City College’s campus should not be a restraint on a student’s educational journey, but it feels like this is once again starting to be the case.

From queues wrapping around the west campus parking lots, to keeping an “eagle eye” on a student potentially opening up a parking spot, starting your morning with a stressful search for a spot shouldn’t have to be the new normal. However, for some City College students, this has been a recurring issue since the semester started, as it often was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a poll conducted on The Channels Instagram page, 90% of participants said that they have been late to a class due to not being able to find a parking spot. Given that students have paid for a parking pass or purchased a daily ticket, they shouldn’t have to worry about finding a parking spot and being late to class all together. The next step for a student who paid for a parking pass shouldn’t be to look for a spot at the neighboring Leadbetter Beach parking lot, which has its own set of parking permits and tickets. It is also known that students may use the carpool or emergency parking as a last resort in hopes of a spot, which ultimately results in receiving a ticket from campus security.

Regardless of whether they utilize the bus or not, students each pay $32 for transportation fees, and are entitled to unlimited bus rides. However, students often have to worry about the cleanliness, reliability and safety of the Santa Barbara MTD bus system, which deters many students from taking public transportation.

With the existing parking problem with City College, the Vaqueros are no longer the only team on the field now that Antioch University has entered the game. Parking lots accommodate more than 200 Antioch students, creating even more of a parking dilemma. 

So, what can be done?

Instead of students relying on Santa Barbara MTD, City College should create their own transportation service, specifically for students, such as a bus or shuttle system. This service needs to be a well-known and reliable option in the community. This will both potentially help traffic flow and increase parking spots on campus. 

While City College is largely to blame for the few available spots, commuters can also take action by utilizing carpooling or alternate transportation. According to UCSB’s website, “Approximately half of I.V.’s 23,000 residents are UCSB students; other residents include Santa Barbara City College students.” With this large number of students coming to and from campus, why are there so many single riders? Whether it be the comfort of driving their own car, or a lack of awareness regarding alternative options, there are problems here that can be solved with more communication and collaboration within the community, especially in Isla Vista.

Community action is key, but administration needs to consider that students and faculty are affected by the parking problems, even if they, with their reserved parking spots, are not directly affected.