OUR VIEW: Parking changes are needed

Starting Sept. 2, Utah State University Parking and Transportation Services will start charging anyone using the parking terrace between 7:30 and midnight. With the extension, more revenue is planned to be generated to help facilitate needed repairs to the parking structure, and perhaps even help fund a new parking terrace on campus in the future.

While students who frequent the Fieldhouse Fitness Center and participate in other activities late at night on campus may be inconvenienced by being required to pay a few extra dollars for parking, they should realize it is not free to operate parking areas.

To maintain a facility such as the parking terrace requires a good deal of money, money that seems to get more scarce every year. The price students will pay to park in a safe, central location on campus is small. If a particular student opts not to value the service of the parking terrace worth a couple of dollars late at night, there are plenty of vacant parking lots around campus available for parking after 10 p.m.

This is where a problem with the recent decision may arise. Students will simply park elsewhere. Parking and Transportation Services would still be looking for the needed funds for the terrace. An included solution may be to increase the rates of parking passes issued for the B-lots by a few dollars and restrict parking in those lots to permit holders. This action would increase funds available to Parking and Transportation Services as well as sift through those students who feel they can beat the system by parking in the lots until there isn’t an attendant on duty.

Before lamenting the decision to extend the time people are charged for parking, students must consider the fact that nothing is free, and sometimes a decision to generate a little extra revenue just has to be made.