Escalated Use of Automobiles by the Students - Report Example

Data of “Proposals” Introduction: Clark Kerr defined the as ‘a series of individual faculty entrepreneurs held together by a common grievance over parking.’ This, maybe a bit, tongue-in-cheek description, surely rings true for our campus since the authority is proposing the construction of parking lots near all major departments. Escalated use of automobiles by the students and the faculty members has narrowed the parking space; a problem catered by large tracts of land being cleared for adding more parking on campus. The growing need for the parking space has led to clearance of residencies from campus’s neighborhood. Traffic flux concentration around the campus area has created a wedge between the neighborhood and the campus. The rising animosity of the social and environment protecting NGOs, for the university, owes to the damage to the environment caused by encouraged use of automobiles and the university catering to this cause instead of putting it to a halt. The construction of the parking areas, their operation and maintenance takes a large portion of the funds from the university authorities that can be brought to use for other reasonable projects. "The university has created opportunities to make capital investments in buildings supporting education instead of structures for cars." Says Peter Dewy, assistant director of transportation services. The reliance on automobiles can be set off by the proposal I suggest to the Office of the Chancellor/ Public Affairs. This proposal would help bridge up the gap between the neighborhood and the campus, help sustain the environment, maintain green society, narrow down the budget, abate the traffic flux and give the students a breathing- friendly atmosphere. Current situation: Students are chauffeured to their schools but once they start off with universities they prefer driving to their campus on their own. In a survey, almost out of every 10 students 7 owned their own cars. The increasing reliance on automobiles has rendered students incapable of even walking from one side of the campus to the other. A few colleagues use their cars to drive from their dormitories to the classes, which are only a few minute walk away. Colleges and universities are somewhat unique in their access requirements, since they are made out of different schools, each having its own specific needs to secure its assets. This poses many challenges in the process of designing a parking and access control system for them. Designing an efficient and cost effective automated access and parking system for university campuses goes a long way in projecting an image of a safe and secure environment. Safety and security is the second most important question in the mind of a parent while selecting a University. The smallest breach makes headlines and causes a lot of grief all around. Good security offers peace of mind to the students as well as parents. Large campuses are designed to function in accordance with the demands of the faculty and the students. Faculty members and majority of students’ parents ask for maximum possible facilities. The more facilities it provides the better. University campuses, that have huge parking spaces, are attributed as the good ones. This encourages the engineers and architects to build spacious parking lots almost at every corner of the campus. Making parking on campus, free, encourages the students to use their cars, whether they are hostilities or day-scholars. At a round-table discussion during a meeting of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, we asked some campus business officers why they didnt charge the full cost of parking. The immediate answer, amid a burst of laughter, was, "Cowardice!" Faculty members and administrators want reserved spots and resist higher charges. The business officers perceive that students and their parents, already paying tuition, would also oppose higher fees. This trend encourages the idea of bigger spacious parking lots. Parents, in the process of making their children more independent, want them to grasp whatever basic responsibilities they can get a hold on, as quickly as they grow up. And this includes children relying on themselves for getting to college and this result in the heavy usage of cars, which take the most space, as compared to other automobiles. And hence the situation deteriorates. Project plan: Evaluating the traffic and parking situation and analyzing both the quantifiable and less quantifiable costs along with the cost of destruction of the learning environment must be initiated as the remedy to the problem currently in the limelight. Developing a price strategy that includes changing the parking-fee structure and providing incentives to promote car pools. The free-parking program for car-poolers at the University of Washington has reduced purchases of single-occupancy-vehicle parking permits by 32 percent over the past decade. Arranging of on-campus seminars to promote environment friendly ways of traveling. This would ensure awareness among the youth to protect the environment and hence prevent grievances among the social workers and the educators. Encouraging the public-transit uses by providing discount coupons for public buses and trains would help in students relying lesser on private transport. Therefore with less transport on road, this will provide an easy path for the ones who are bounded to come or have no other option rather to come on their own private vehicles. Encouraging the students to walk when it is not necessary to drive. Walking short distances would help lessen the need for automobile parking outside every other department. This will also lesson the heaviness in the environment due to car fuel and would surely help in protecting the environment as well. The major plan, part of the project, is that the university creates transportation options. Developing a bicycle network around the campus and stocking up bicycles for the students to sign out and use them for a specific period of time, anywhere in the university campus, can help sorting out the problems. The bicycle network laid along the planted area need not be paved or cemented. A narrow mud and gravel track banked with small and big plants, would hardly need any removal of tress. The stocking up of bicycles would need a garage or a store room that would serve as the operating room of the particular project. Students working on-campus would be able to find jobs serving as the caretakers of the bicycles; keeping the record of who signed up a bicycle and the due time period of its return, maintain and keep a check for the flaws that may appear in the bicycles any time and keeping up with the administrators to make sure that the project is properly funded. Small parking stands for the bicycles would need to be created near important departments, which need not be paved as well, saving on the costs. (Edge, 1992) Cost-benefit analysis The demand estimates reflect demand for the same adult population (18+) on a working day in the same period of the year in which the infrastructure is improved. To calculate the change in demand for the entire year, we assume that people in the university cycle only six months in a year (April to September). We assess benefits connected to two different scenarios of demand intensity: (1) the willingness to cycle on every convenient working day (neutral scenario); (2) the willingness to cycle on every second convenient day (conservative scenario). For the sake of the simplicity of the presentation, the benefits for the strict level (both the neutral and conservative scenarios) are displayed first. The costs side of the CBA includes infrastructure investments and maintenance costs. The table below shows the existing and planned networks of cycling infrastructure and estimated costs of their construction. The costs of infrastructure construction vary between 1,000 and 2,000 CZK per square meter. Such a difference in costs per square meter is caused by a broad range of material being used, the terrain conditions, etc. For the further analysis we use the average value of 1,500 CZK. The results of the CBA for the lower (1,000 CZK) and the higher (2,000 CZK) values of the infrastructure construction costs are reported in the sensitivity analysis. Table 1: Costs: existing and planned cycling infrastructure Cycle Path Cycle Lane Walking + Cycling path Total Planned Network for Cycling(km) 34.2 39.2 52.2 125.5* Remaining parts of the Network 26 19 34 79 Cost Estimates for Completing the Network (mil.CZKEuro**) 51.8 18.6 50.4 120.8 Total costs (mil CZK/Euro) 112 76.8 136.6 325.3 * Calculated construction costs 1,500 CZK/m ** The exchange rate is 29 CZK/Euro In the CBA applied to the planned cycling infrastructure network we include the following benefits: I) Improvements in health by regular physical activity of new cyclists(quantification of impacts is based on costs of illness) II) Changes in number and severity of accidents (based on accident costs); III) Changes in atmospheric pollution (using the External methodology for impact Quantification); IV) Benefits from reduced insecurity; V) Changes in travel times. Qualification: The growing problem needs the skill for resolution. The problem needs to be deemed under professional supervision and needs to be debated to people who have the authority to combat it. It also requires experience in planning, since experience brings along foresight that comes in handy dealing with issues of this sort. They must have the know-how of dealing with all the technical and professional issues the university is facing. Therefore, I put my proposal before the office of chancellor/ public affairs, hoping that it would not only help the offices take the right decision but is also fruitful and beneficial to the campus itself. Conclusion and Recommendations: The proposed solution for the parking problems on campus needs strategic implementation by the concerned authorities. The need to resolve the problem by not giving vast pieces of land to serve the purpose of accommodating huge numbers of automobiles but through looking into the causes of the problem and therefore diminishing them at their very roots is the basic idea imposed by this proposal put forward to the office of public affairs. This concerned authority is expected to acquire expertise and arrange for funds for its implementation as well. Another task they would need to perform is to categorize the project and forward each category to appropriate departments. This would ensure an efficient implementation. The proposal, in essence, is the ways in which the use of cars (and other space-requiring automobiles) can be cut down to a level that would not disturb the environment or the wretch the relations with the neighborhood. The use of bicycles instead of motored vehicles, as proposed by this proposal, is expected to reduce the external costs along with counteracting the inauspicious impact air pollution has on human health. Lesser traffic congestion and the construction of cycling tracks can be expected to lessen traveling times as well, which would eventually lead to greater punctuality of the students. Improved health and active minds due to regular physical activity of new cyclists is another expected outcome of this proposal. The number of accidents that result in fatal injuries can be expected to minimize as well since riding bicycles is safer than driving motored vehicles, and hence the parents sending their children from other states would be placid with regard to their children’s lives’ security. The saved costs would be used for more viable and beneficial projects and can be used in the advancements of library, sports stuff, and better cafeteria facilities and in building modern day laboratories which will all and all raise the standards of the university, internally and externally. Therefore, the proposal does not only satisfy the need to resolve the parking issues, it brings forth all the aspects that need to be looked into, but have always been gone unheeded. If the work and plans are carried out effectively and efficiently, the future could be bright and shiny not only for the students but also for the on campus administration. Healthy environment will exist in and around the campus and the area would be a much better place for the students to study and spend quality time. References Edge, Grant W, Traffic restraint measures in residential neighborhoods, Lincoln College, University of Canterbury 1982.(Edge, 1992) Read More