The Gown – student newspaper at Queen's University Belfast.

COMMENT: Crisis of Cars

Every university has its problems and Queen’s is no different – low attendance, too much alcohol to name but a few. However, it could be said that one of the major problems for Queen’s University students, especially those who drive, is the never ending struggle with traffic, parking, and public transport. One must deal with the traffic jams, one way streets which are easily blocked and being constantly late to class. Many would say that it is a student’s responsibility to leave home in plenty of time but how can one predict that an ambulance will be parked on University Street for half an hour? It n’t be practical to leave two hours early (depending on where you live) on the off-chance that there will be a problem!

BY MELISSA DEVLIN

The difficulties do not end there; after waiting in your traffic jam for half and hour and finally breaking free; next comes the search for a parking space. Many students would not mind paying a fee at the start of term if it guaranteed them a place to park, but no facility has been put in place. Unlike Jordanstown campus which provided a car park large enough for both staff and students; with daily tickets or if preferred six monthly or even yearly. At Queen’s you will find cars parked haphazardly, or parked on double yellows and even clamped (as this student is well experienced in!).

For those who live far away “leaving the car at home” is not an option. So some would say, “Why not use public transport?” and the simple answer is that it is not economical. Yes the prices for trains and buses are reasonable within the Belfast area but step outside the city to, for example, Portadown or Lisburn and the daily commute costs more than petrol and diesel; even in the current climate.

There is the option of the much debated Translink Student Card; which is useful but many are put off by the price and also how much time and energy it takes to actually get one. Why can’t students just show their student cards? It seems that students are left to deal with these insurmountable problems by themselves. A new car park was built but not for students, for staff. As the students are the ones paying over £3000 a year, surely some assistance is deserved?

Tags: cars, Gown, Melissa Devlin, newspaper, parking, qub, Queen's, queen's university, student, The Gown

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.