The sprawling Madison campus during an era of high and unstable gas prices serves as the ideal setting for moped ownership. Under these conditions, it is understandable that many students select scooters for quick and convenient transportation around campus. However, thanks to the newly acquired conscience of the Transportation Services and campus police, insufficient on-campus moped parking will finally become the problem it has always had the potential to be.
Since late August, the Transportation Services for the university have been educating moped motorists about upcoming changes regarding policy and enforcement of parking on campus. Chief among the alterations is that moped parking will now be limited to designated stalls. The campus police, on Sept. 12, warning motorists of moped driving violations that appeared to have gone the way of jaywalking and underage drinking some time ago.
Convenient parking has always been part of what separates scooters from other vehicles in Madison, and why they have become a staple on campus. Many students will have to search for a legitimate stall blocks away from their destination to avoid $40 tickets, now that enforcement is in full swing.
This burden is being promoted deceptively by the transportation officials, who claim on-campus scooter parking is expanding with these changes. Though the number of stalls may have increased, the amount of actual parking has been significantly reduced with this policy amendment. Areas of campus with heavy traffic do not have sufficient parking to effectively serve moped traffic.
Even before these new policies were enforced, there were an inadequate amount of stalls in place at the Social Science Building for the students attending classes in nearby buildings. The parking maps, distributed in the weeks prior to enforcement, are also misleading. They fail to mention the size of the lot, and in the case of the one across from Babcock Hall, may not even exist.
While strict enforcement of traffic violations may prevent accidents and add to overall public safety, reduced parking will merely inconvenience those who it seeks to aid. It will not substantially increase safety, because moped parking has not proven to be hazardous. If it did, in fact, pose a significant risk to safety, then the university would apply these same restrictions to residence halls. The situation at classes is quite similar to that at residence halls, so why do the regulations for parking differ? This new policy will not drastically reduce incidents, but, with problematic parking and tickets, will cost some of the students it seeks to help time and money.
Transportation officials and the campus police should concentrate their reform efforts on moped driving violations, which would improve traffic conditions more than altering parking regulations. It is counterintuitive to respond to more scooters with less parking. This policy is insensitive to students and ineffective because it has misplaced priorities.
