In an effort to alleviate the parking problem the exists for Fresno City College students, the Associated Student Government has begun the process of exploring various options of setting up a carpool service.
ASG senator and Transportation Committee Chair Matt Shubin says that the parking issue was the main motivation for the initiative and also the main focus of the Transportation Committee.
Shubin says he was given the idea for the issue when he saw a flyer for Valley Rides. Valley Rides, a service set up from the proceeds of Measure C, is a webpage that matches people with others from similar areas who have similar work and school schedules so that they may carpool together. “There was this carpool service that’s been around but nobody knows about it. [ASG] want to make students aware of it,” Shubin said.
Measure C, according to the Fresno Council of Governments, was originally passed in 1986 and implements a half-cent sales tax “aimed at improving the overall quality of Fresno County’s transportation system.”
In the beginning of February, Shubin began to contact Fresno Council of Governments Administrative Outreach Assistant Donna Blocker. He also proposed the idea to the rest of ASG and received approval.
From Feb. 24-28, ASG set up a booth in front of the main fountain area to inform students of the initiative and to collect surveys regarding the transportation habits of students. According to Shubin, ASG wanted to learn what kinds of projects students would be interested in participating in. Shubin estimates that ASG collected roughly 60 surveys regarding the carpool initiative. The FCC Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning office will be be evaluating the surveys.
One of the possible options being explored is to partner with Valley Rides, according to Shubin. When Valley Rides has partnered with an institution, the process of matching commuters to those institutions up is streamlined, according to Brenda Veenendaal, senior regional planner at Fresno Council of Governments.
When the final project is finished, students would be able to log on to the Valley Rides webpage where they enter some personal information – like class schedule and the cross streets of where they live – and select that they will be going to FCC.
Valley Rides would then match students up where there is an opportunity for those students to carpool, Veenendaal said.
Another option is for students to find their own carpool partners, independent of Valley Rides and then register as carpoolers with FCC, according to Director of Student Activities Sean Henderson. Henderson said a ride-matching service would expose FCC to a liability. “That’s not a liability we’d take,” Henderson said.
“ASG wants to promote the opportunities for students to get around the parking issue,” said Shubin. “Being a student representative, we need some way to help students and their needs and we need something to help this parking issue.”
Third-year FCC English major Ozzy Valladolid agrees that the parking issue is a huge problem and should be addressed. However, he has misgivings about how popular the service will ultimately be.
“I’d be willing to participate,” Valladolid said, “but I think people might feel awkward about carpooling with people they’ve never met.”
In order to incentivize students to participate in the program, Shubin said, ASG plans to offer some sort of privileges to participating students.
“We want a way to reward people who will participate in [the carpool service],” Shubin said.
According to Shubin those privileges may include parking permits at a reduced cost. They also may include access to a parking spots that are reserved only for those who are carpooling.
It’s uncertain how much the carpool service will alleviate the parking problem, Shubin said, “but it’s something that’s necessary. It doesn’t make sense not to do it.”
