To the Editor:
“Developing parking with a customer service perspective,” is what Claude Rounds, vice president for administration, called the new parking and shuttle system at its proposal two years ago. Consid­ering the current situation, this statement is concurrently laugh­able and disgusting.
As a commuter student, I am a regular on the shuttle service to and from the Field House parking lots. Waiting for the shuttle has progressed from an inconvenient, temporary solution to a dreaded daily routine. In frigid temp­eratures, I regularly wait with crowds of students for twenty to thirty minutes as crowded shuttles drive past our pickup spot. It is often faster to brave the cold walk to or from campus than wait for an empty shuttle. The problem is even more infuriating considering the original description of the shuttle system.
In an article dated January 16, 2002, The Poly reported that due to the upcoming construction projects, commuter students would be temporarily parking, free of charge, in the Field House lots and would be able to take advantage a new, regular shuttle service. Those construction projects are complete and commuter students continue to park at the Field House, now paying $95 for a permit, and are forced to use the irregular and poorly-executed shuttle service. While plans for new construction and Institute development are ann­ounced, it is no wonder that many alumni hold bad RPI memories close to their hearts.
Prospective students should be warned during campus tours that, while RPI is growing in exciting ways, the administration is often still incapable of adequately addressing basic needs of the student body.
Jonathan Lobel
ITEC ‘05
