Though no official dates have been set, the Beach Cruiser shuttles, which travel from the Marina Lot on Second Street to the East Campus Turnaround, may stop running in the near future, according to Mark Rudometkin, associate director of Cal State Long Beach Parking and Access Services.
Students who continue to park in the Marina Lot will have to walk to Pacific Coast Highway to use the Long Beach Transit buses in order to get to campus. The Passport D and the 171 routes are accessible in front of the In-N-Out on PCH, which is one block from the Marina Lot.
While the campus’s use of the Marina Lot is free, the Beach Cruiser shuttles cost approximately $18,700 per month to run, Rudometkin said. Agreements must also be met with the City of Long Beach Parks and Recreation and private business owners in the area to use the lot.
The Marina Lot first opened in fall 2008 in an attempt to ease campus parking.
“It was a huge benefit last semester when we were full,” Rudometkin said.
According to Rudometkin, since the beginning of the spring 2009 semester an average of approximately 350 students have been using the Marina Lot and shuttle on a daily basis.
Some of these students have parking permits displayed in their windows, Rudometkin said. Rudometkin also said he is not sure why students who have paid for permits would park at the Marina Lot when there are plenty of spaces open on campus now that Parking Structure 3 has opened and Parking Lot 11A has reopened.
Currently, with the recent closing of Lot 11C for the construction of the Recreation and Wellness Center, there are approximately 13,670 total parking spaces on campus.
“[The Marina Lot] was a temporary solution to a larger problem which was partially solved by the construction of PS3,” said another parking official. “They were really pushing hard, working day and night, to finish PS3 for spring.”
According to this same official, the amount paid for the private shuttle company must be taken into account, “How can you justify deficit spending for about 345 students when those same students can join the 5,000 other students using the U-PASS?”
In a Nov. 19, 2008 article in the Daily Forty-Niner, CSULB President F. King Alexander said that the U-PASS program cost the university about $200,000 for the 2008-09 school year. Also in the article, Rudometkin said that the university hopes to renew the program when the contract ends in September 2009.
Some students have had adverse reactions to the potential Beach Cruiser closing and have put a petition in the Cruiser in hopes to keep it open. As of 6 p.m. on Monday, there were more than 160 signatures on the petition.
“It’s another way to push us to come and buy passes to park on campus,” said Jessica Denova, a senior biology major and Beach Cruiser passenger. Denova also said that the LBT buses take longer because it makes several stops, making it difficult for her to get back to her car and get to work on time.
“[Parking on campus] is such as hassle. It’s so much easier to take the Beach Cruiser,” said another shuttle user, Diana Nguyen, a junior marketing major.
Rudometkin said they are still tracking the use of the Marina Lot and Beach Cruiser before they come to any final conclusions. “We’re still debating all of this,” Rudometkin said.
There’s also the small little thing about how 171’s last trip back to the marina lot leaves CSULB at 7:07 PM, while the shuttle will run as late at 10:15 PM. I haven’t yet had to be at school that late, but last semester I had a lab that ended at 9:45 PM and classes on MW that ended at 8:15 PM.
geez … walk the 90 seconds over to PCH and pick up the Passport or 171 bus people ! Yeah, I know … the shuttle takes you to Lower Campus, and the others take you to Upper Campus. But, $18,700 divided by 500 is $37.40/month per student to run the shuttle! …I ride the Passport every day. I luv the U-Pass !