By Of the 1,000 carpool parking permits that are issued by Cal State Long Beach on a yearly basis, 428 have been claimed.
Lot 17 is one of two spots on campus for student carpoolers to park. The second, and considerably smaller, area is in Parking Structure 2, on the first level. Still, those spots remain empty while the rest of campus is, for the most part, parked shoulder to shoulder.
In the past two years, 1,500 carpool permits were available and about 900 were actually issued to students, according to parking service coordinator Pete Taafe.
Carpool permits are now issued by year, including winter and summer session.
“Usually it’s the same students who apply and are issued a carpool permit each semester so we changed the program from having 1,500 carpool permits [available] each semester to 1,000 [available] the entire school year,” Taafe said.
The process to acquire this carpool pass, though, is an incredibly simple yet undiscovered secret. Students need only go to CSULB’s Rideshare website and print out the carpool application. Alternatively, students are also able to go to the Parking, Transportation and Event Services office located in Lot 15 to acquire the application. Once the application is filled out, students bring it back to the office in Lot 15.
On the application, it notes that the applicant must also purchase a standard parking pass and they must provide at least one of their carpool passengers’ information. Though only one student needs to have purchased a parking pass, additional passengers are not required to have one.
“It’s a good idea. I just think, especially for freshmen who aren’t really comfortable with their schedules or familiar with the area, ride-sharing is not practical,” freshman philosophy major Davy Me said.
Carpool parking permits are of no extra charge. However, its rules are strictly enforced. If a student is caught parking in a carpool parking space alone, even if they own a carpool permit, they will be fined a standard parking ticket fee.
The process is worth it to most students who already ride to school in groups of two or more.
“It’s pretty beneficial. If you’re late to class, you can find a parking space pretty quick,” junior journalism major Stephany Ramos said.
For students who do not have any friends who live locally enough for carpooling to be an alternative option for getting to school, CSULB offers a carpool matching system located at zimride.com/csulb.
This service is only useable by students, faculty and staff and is also linked into Facebook so that you can see the face of which stranger you might be picking up. The service also allows for daily commute schedules as well as one-time only rides.
The carpool passes are limited and distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Patrick Moreno and Vineet Gupta contributed to this report.
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