Travel torture

The new campus car parking scheme has led to an increase in demand for bus services, frustration from some student drivers, and disruption to the area around the university.

The scheme, which involves the removal of student parking permits and free car parking spaces, is causing students to look elsewhere for affordable parking.

Cannon Park, the shopping centre next to the University, said it has seen a large increase in the number of students using its car park during the day.

“It’s a problem,” said a Cannon Park representative. “There’s been a large increase [in students parking there] since they came back – more than it usually is. We’ve been getting a lot of complaints from our tenants. We would obviously like students to park on their own parking complex, as our priority is our tenants and customers.”

A part of Cannon Park’s problem is that they have no jurisdiction to enforce who parks in their car park.

“We can politely ask them not to park on our complex but we can’t enforce it.”

According to Cannon Park, the University did not specifically inform the shopping centre about the changes to on-campus parking, though the two parties are now “in consultation […] and trying to come to some solution.”

Bus companies running services to Warwick campus have also seen an increase in demand.

Stagecoach Warwickshire, which runs the U1 service from Leamington, has added extra buses in the morning rush hour to cope with the rising number of customers, and is continuing to monitor demand on its services.

National Express Coventry, which operates the number 12 bus from Coventry, has placed inspectors along the route and is expected to increase its services after the inspection period has finished. Both companies are in consultation with the Students’ Union and the University.

The Students’ Union said it is “pleased” with the bus companies’ actions, though it noted that Stagecoach has cut its services in past years, and so is simply reinstating services that used to run regularly.

The Union also said the University had been instrumental in bringing about the changes. “Without them not so much would be achieved in such little time,” said communications officer Isaac Acquah.

Despite efforts to alleviate the effects of the new scheme on student drivers, some are still frustrated by difficulties in travelling to campus.

One second-year student complained, “It’s very inconvenient because it takes me a long time to find a parking spot and I have to come 30 minutes earlier to find one. I also don’t like it because I have to bring so much change to the university, if I put in £2, it doesn’t give me any change.”

He added, “The buses are all too full, it took me an hour and a half one day [last week], which is ridiculous if you have a 9am.”

Jason Davison said, “It’s difficult for students to be efficient with their time when its hard to come and go from the university. Unreliable buses are encouraging students to drive.”

Not all students, however, have had bad experiences with the bus services. “They’ve been good, but all my lectures are later,” said Jess Bentley. “I think for people in early lectures it’s a big problem.

Other students think the University should do more to help students get to campus. “There should be some sort of subsidy, since Leamington is so far away and driving isn’t an option,” said Lottie Sheppard.

Reaction to the new car-parking scheme has been mixed. While many student drivers are frustrated by the inconvenience and cost, others are less upset. “I sympathise with the University because they have limited car parking spaces,” said a second-year MORSE student.

The Students’ Union is continuing to press for improved car parking provision for students. Alex Twiss, the Union’s sports officer, said he has been “inundated” with requests for essential-user parking permits, and that the number of permits available will not be enough for sports clubs that need permits to transport equipment.

“The changes have caused a severe problem. At my recent sports council to the sports clubs exec the majority of the questions I was fielding were about the car parking situation and in particular how it was impacting their ability to run their clubs,” he said. Twiss plans to press the university to provide a single permit for each sports club that could be transferred between drivers, so that no individual driver would be expected to shoulder all of their club’s driving responsibilities.

The University’s press office said that not enough time has passed since the implementation of the car parking scheme for it to comment on its effects.