<p>So I am starting my first semester at community college next week and am learning more and more about the notoriously hectic parking. Apparently the ongoing construction turns parking into a nightmare. Also there don't seem to be enough spots to begin with and tickets are given if you park in the nearby neighborhood. I registered for classes so that my weekday begins between 9:30 and 11 am every day. I could go early but I feel like the lot would be full with people already in class (who started at 8:00 am for example).
Bike and/or bus aren't really options for me. I'm stressed out what can I do?</p>
<p>Get there by 6:45. Buy some breakfast beforehand or bring some kind of entertainment with you. Wait until the library opens up and go hang out in there until class. I usually did this to avoid the first weeks of hectic parking. It usually gets better as more people drop their classes and aren’t crashing classes anymore. After that I’d find a good time to be there probably around 7 to 7:30. I’d say anywhere from 8 - 10 am is where it’s the most packed and busiest. People will typically start arriving I feel like at 7:30 to 8:00 because they don’t want to get there too early and wait (lots of impatient people). As people start leaving for lunch spots open up. </p>
<p>It’s usually pretty empty and quiet in the library in the morning, so it’s a perfectly good time to get some reading for class done or finish homework. </p>
<p>Don’t be concerned with getting the best parking spot available but just that you have one. A little bit of walking is good for you. But if you can get a good parking spot, go for it. This would be my general advice for any time. I’d say getting there at 9 would give you the worst selection of parking available. </p>
<p>Qualifications: 3 years of community college, commuted over an hour away, dealt with a lot of construction/traffic issues with school parking lots</p>
<p>Okay I’m thinking I’ll definitely go early for the first week or two and just hang out in the library for a couple hours. For me MWFs start at 9:30 and TTHs start at 11. I made my schedule like this so I could sleep in! Do you think enough people will flake out for me to arrive at a reasonable time?</p>
<p>Also I’m going to scope out the all the parking tomorrow and how bad construction is.</p>
<p>Swithcing classes would be an even bigger pain in the rear. I spent a LOT of time on ratemyprofessor matching the best professors with my ideal schedule (couple classes per day, not too early not to late). I wouldn’t want to change it. Hopefully parking isn’t as bad as I’m anticipating. First couple of weeks will be rough though.</p>
<p>Parking at my CC was a mess during the first week or three. It got a lot better when people dropped classes coincidentally right around the time refund checks got disbursed. It was glorious. The lines in the cafeteria went POOF and the parking lot was a ghost town. Loved it.</p>
<p>bicycle
saves gas, increase fitness, cheap maintenance, sometimes even faster than traffic.</p>
<p>oh I didn’t see that bikes and buses aren’t an option for you. why? are you commuting long distance? how long?</p>
<p>@ladeeda6 I hope this is what happens! </p>
<p>@spectastic It’s about 6 miles and quite a few hills. Is that bad? About a ten min drive with no traffic and green lights. It’s just that the parking is so stressful.</p>
<p>It is is six miles I would almost say walk, haha.</p>
<p>The situation at my school is better than most, but I still almost never park on-campus. I’ve simply found it easier to park in city parking a couple blocks away and walk from there.</p>
<p>Things will get better after the first few weeks, so I wouldn’t stress too much. For the first 2-3 weeks, however, you’re going to have to get here EARLY. Otherwise, you’re going to end up parking in some weird places. </p>
<p>I went to a CC that didn’t have nearly enough parking for all its students. There were times when I had to park 3-4 blocks away in a residential neighborhood or in the parking lot of the theatre across the street.</p>
<p>Early is your best bet. However, you might be able to grab a spot if you circle around and around in the period between classes - the only problem, of course, is that you could end up being late for class if someone doesn’t happen to be leaving.</p>
<p>You might also want to drive up there before classes begin and become familiar with all of the student parking areas. You could even ask the parking people/security which lots are more likely to have spaces available - since they’re the ones ticketing, they may know!</p>
<p>6 miles isn’t bad. There are people who commute 20+ miles to work, and they’ve become very seasoned bike mechanics while they’re at it, as well as healthier people.</p>
<p>I live in a small city that’s relatively flat. It’s 3 miles and it takes me 10-15 minutes depending on traffic and wind. Where do you live? what’s the weather like? how steep are the hills? If you got a bike, you can try to make a trip one of these days to see what it’s like. You might want to invest in a hybrid or a road bike.</p>
<p>Personally, I would much rather bike 6 miles than having to wake up at 6 AM. Did that once for a job, never again. NEVER</p>
<p>I must be a lazy ass, because I’d never bike to school. I don’t live in a hilly area, but there is heavy traffic (understatement) on the main streets and a surprising number of people don’t understand the concept of a bike lane.
But I guess having a thinner road bike would make things easier instead of, say, a beach cruiser (although it is totally cute, ahem).</p>
<p>you got a bike lane?? I’m super jealous. must be a big city. I have no input for riding in big cities with high volume traffic. Yea, there will be idiots who temporarily park in the bike lane, but that’s just part of the driver/biker rivalry. And yea, they don’t always get along. teenagers taking on their phones pis5 me off the most.</p>
<p>beach cruisers are for a 15 minute rides around the park, not so good for commuting. and I don’t mean to offend you, but they’re super ugly.</p>
<p>Thanks guys for your help.</p>
<p>I’ll see how my first week goes, maybe I’ll get mum to drop me off the first couple of days if it’s as bad as I’m anticipating. But I’m going to go tomorrow (not for class or anything) and see how much construction is going on. I’ll get familiar with all the parking lots and look for secret spots too. I’m also going to scope out the nearby neighborhood for any streets that allow (or at least don’t prohibit, haha) student parking. </p>
<p>Hopefully it will die down quickly though so that more spots open up. Worst case I’ll get one of those hipster bikes and ride that. Or at least ride it to the nearest bus stop. Maybe a longboard.</p>
<p>I think I’ll still drive though even if it’s bad though. I’ll figure something out</p>
<p>if you want to drive there you got to get up early and get a spot while its open</p>
<p>From my experience (and it looks like others have experienced this as well), you’ll have to get there early for the first few weeks, but then many people will drop out and you can probably arrive 15 minutes before classes start. For the first few weeks, you could probably get there at 8 AM and be fine, as many people try to avoid taking early classes, so the lots shouldn’t be completely full.</p>
<p>Our college has enough parking. It does not have enough parking close to the center of campus. So, arrive early. At our school, 9:30 is prime time.</p>
<p>I’m from a decent sized city so home lanes aren’t everywhere, just of one main street that connects the city and downtown area with surrounding suburbs and a few others. Traffic is a demon because it runs through the major hospitals and my school is downtown. </p>
<p>I think cruisers are cute. Mine in the rough shape of a cruiser but has handle brakes and the click things where you cab adjust stuff (like speed, I guess). I’ve never had a road bike, so I can’t speak on how they ride, but they just look flimsy. </p>
<p>Op, I think if you can, you should try and get dropped off the first day or two. The rest of the semester will be significantly less chaotic so it’ll be good to get a feel of things that way.</p>
<p>*bike lanes. Friggin’ auto-correct.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>they’re called shifters young grasshopper. and since most beach cruisers are single speeds, yours is probably a mountain bike with comfort handlebars. and as long as you don’t crash into curbs or steer off into the woods, a road bike will hold up just fine. Mine was made in 1984, and it holds up better than the walmart bikes made today.</p>