Most students that drive to NEIU complain about parking in one way or another. This complaining pertains to either the students that pay for and park at the NEIU premises or to those “smart” individuals that choose not to pay for NEIU parking and fight tooth and nail for parking spaces around NEIU.
When CTA announced on Oct. 12 that they plan to raise transit prices yet again, most of these students that drive and complain about parking sympathized with their fellow colleagues. To be realistic, did they really sympathize with those who take public transportation?
“I drive to school. Who cares about the CTA hike, it’s not going to effect me,” is a saying that comes to mind. So, this is probably not what everyone was thinking, but many students who take public transportation to school most likely saw this intricate story form inside their heads. It was as if those individuals who said the MAP grant problem was not going to effect them were expressing their opinion again.
It would be crazy to think that the .75 cents hike to the “L” trains (will be a total of three dollars to ride one-way) and the .25 cents hike to the CTA bus system (will be $2.25 one-way) would not ultimately affect the student body of NEIU as a whole. Think about it for a minute: a roundtrip to school and home would cost a total of six dollars on the train alone for one day; this is not counting transfers and what not. One does not need to know intensive math in order to realize the amount of money a student will need to pay in order to come to school two to five days out of the week.
How does this effect me, the driver, you say? Gas prices have stopped rising, so what exactly is going to stop many of these students that take public transportation from driving to NEIU now? If you are one of the individuals that complained about parking at NEIU, well, it is going to be an all new ballgame if the price hike takes effect on Feb. 7 of next year. One can expect parking spots at NEIU to dwindle.
Think you were smart to not pay for parking in order to park for free around NEIU? Well, these students that were evading high gas prices can be considered smart too. What is going to stop them from taking your little “money saving” technique? You have to stop and think that they were the ones supposedly saving money in the first place. If you thought parking was a vicious cycle, just wait until this new wave of rabid drivers find themselves at NEIU, fighting for the same parking spots the current psychos fight for today.
As an Independent reader, CTA rider or NEIU parking user, how do you think this CTA price hike will affect overall parking at NEIU? Do you think students will continue to ride the CTA at up to an outrageous six dollars a day or will they begin to drive to NEIU and cause a vicious parking epidemic?