People have been complaining about the parking situation on campus for a long time. Of course, the huge increase in enrollment this year has contributed to the problem. However, the parking problem has existed for a long time. But apart from complaining, have we actually tried to find a feasible solution to the problem other than simply creating more parking spots?

We could. But sometimes, we choose not to. Most of the time, we would rather think short and speak high. As people always question the college’s ability to create more parking spaces, we could identify other solutions by thinking outside the box.

We need to be to be clear about the situation we are faced with: we cannot create more parking spots because we simply don’t have extra space.

According to local regulations, the campus has to retain an equal ratio between green land and concrete buildings. And if the campus is going to build more parking lots, it has to retain an equal area of green land as well. But this is not easy, as the college does not really have any extra space to create more parking areas around the campus and the campus cannot sacrifice any green land to create more parking spaces.

The only alternative would be to purchase more land to build parking lots. But administrators’ hands are tied with many fiscal and technical issues. Moreover, the campus is very unlikely to find suitable places near the campus to build extra parking lots, and thus any new parking space will just be another version of the Target parking lots, never solving any problem at all.

It is therefore pretty clear that we are very unlikely to provide extra parking space around the campus in the very near future. What are the alternatives?

From an economic perspective, we have tried to identify a supply-side solution to the problem; in other words, to provide a greater supply of parking spot because there is always a surplus of demand for parking spots.

However, if we view the issue from another point of view, we may find an easier and more feasible solution. What I propose is a series of demand-side solutions, the key of which is to reduce the demand for parking spaces.

First, every semester we could seek students who would choose to park at Target rather than on campus. For those students, instead of issuing them a parking permit, we will give them a parking credit (in an amount to be determined) per month deducted from their tuition bills. In that way, we will be able to reduce the number of people who choose to park around the campus.

Second, I propose to set up an electronic management system to control the parking flow. This idea was first developed by a group of Abington Honors students in their last semester’s ECON 102H class.

In the proposal, boom barriers and gates would be set up in each parking lot connected to an electronic management system. Students will be able to gain access to the campus parking lot swiping their parking permit. This allows us to monitor the parking situation in each of the parking lots at times, calculating how many parking spots are left in each parking lot. From there, we could operate a mobile application for students to get updated information on the parking situation.

Also, we can set up a few LED display boards around the campus to show the number of spots left for each of the parking lots. These measures allow students to get updated information to choose their parking options and get to campus on time. It also prohibits people without a parking permit to gain access to the campus.

Third, the campus might also develop a parking fee system to discourage students from parking on campus. The campus could pose a parking fee at certain times of the day to direct students to park at Target, take public transportation, or choose other options in rush hours.

These are just some of the potential solutions we could consider. As the campus is identified as one of the fastest expanding campuses around the commonwealth and is expected to have its first residence hall finished in 2017, we have to work on practicable solutions to deal with the parking problem.

Sometimes, we just need to think outside the box, and the solution could be just around the corner.