Parking on West Chester campus is not easy, and I am not talking about parking a car. West Chester University should invest in more bike racks on campus. They should do this especially in the Academic Quad and near the new rec center. The number of bicycles on the West Chester campus has increased tremendously over the past four years, but rack spaces are few and far between on campus during the week. It is no wonder! According to the West Chester University website, the number of students has increased by 1.2 percent since fall 2008, resulting in roughly 14,500 undergraduates. With the increase of students, housing is more difficult to come by, making students live further away from campus than in past years.
Throughout my four years at West Chester University, I was lucky enough to find housing nearby on Walnut Street and Matlack Street. Now that I am back for one more semester, I had to settle for housing a little further away, near Route 52 down Price Street. I am not complaining, however. If I did not have a bicycle, my commute would consist of a 20-25 minute walk or stressing out over whether or not I put enough money in the meter.
Riding a bike in West Chester is a smart idea. During the day, traffic in town can make a typical five-minute drive turn into a fifteen-minute drive. According to gasbuddy.com, gas prices have more than doubled what they were in November of 2008. Bringing them from $1.61 in 2008 to $3.87 today. More-so, parking enforcement in the borough is ridiculous. They give out parking citations like candy on Involvement Fair Day. Now, do not get me wrong, parking a bike is a lot easier than parking a car. If there is not any rack space available, you can always find a sturdy fence. However, a fence does not give you the security a bike rack does.
According to an inventory done in 2003, there was approximately enough space for 267 bikes in bike racks on campus. This would only satisfy 1.8 percent of the current undergraduates on campus. In March of 2010, West Chester made a map indicating bike rack locations on campus. According to this map, there are 27 bike racks on North Campus, with only seven of those in the Academic Quad. A mere five are located near the Bull Center. South campus surprisingly only has three bike racks. Students should be encouraged to ride their bikes, especially down to south campus. Ed Bruno, a member of facilities management, explained that the bike racks throughout campus are different sizes. Unfortunately, we cannot get an accurate count of how many bikes could be locked up.
I feel as though West Chester University should put one bike rack, if not two, at the new recreation center. There are two bike racks at Lawrence, however those are usually full. With West Chester promoting sustainability and healthy living, there is no reason they should not be able to find a few extra dollars in the budget to accommodate those on two wheels.
Dylan Star is a fourth-year student majoring in communication studies. He can be reached at DS672157@wcupa.edu.com.