Lot E, north of Health Center, will be car pool lot starting Monday

By Joshua Bacon

Starting Monday the green section of parking lot “E” will only be accessible to students who are signed up for the new car pool program on campus.

Weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. only vehicles with two or more Fresno State students and a rideshare parking permit will be allowed into the parking lot. After 10:30 a.m. the lot will be open to all students with valid green parking permits.

The office of parking and transportation is trying to reward those who try to do something about air pollution, said Annette Harvey, alternative transportation coordinator on campus.

“ Air pollution is one of the biggest problems we face in the Valley,” Harvey said. “To give an incentive to those people who will car pool we are offering them a reserved car pool lot on a first come, first serve basis.”

The car pool program is free, but a student rideshare registration form must be filled out and brought to the University Student Union Parking and Police Pavilion office to receive the permit. The form may be found at the Parking and Police Pavilion or downloaded from Fresno State’s Web site.

The requirements are that a minimum of two Fresno State students must register and at least one of the applicants must have a valid green permit.

Each car pool group is given one rideshare permit that is transferable to all of the group members’ vehicles. The permit is only good for the fall semester. Each semester students must sign up for new permits. Each person who signs up receives a visor compact disc holder.

Parking officers will ensure there are a minimum of two people in each vehicle and that the rideshare permit is displayed. They will turn away anyone who does not meet these requirements.

Fliers have been placed on vehicle windshields since Wednesday and will continue to be placed there to inform students of the program. New signs were also put into place to let students know of the change.

Henry Oum, a senior accounting major, said he did not know about the new car pool program. He said his sister also drives to school and that finding parking on campus is terrible sometimes.

“ I think that’s a great idea. It would save us lots of time finding parking,” Oum said.

Myesha Frazier, a freshman liberal studies major, said she uses the “E” parking lot all the time.

“ Because of living off-campus 15 minutes away there’s no one who can go with me,” Frazier said.

Harvey said there is a Web site for people who think they don’t have anyone to car pool with.

It is a matching system for people in the Valley who are looking for car pool mates, Harvey said. It allows people to select the hours and days they come to school and then matches them to others with the same schedules. The Web site is www.valleyrides.com.

Harvey said she does not think the car pool program will be an inconvenience.

“ I don’t believe that we’re taking away spaces. I believe that we will actually be reducing the number of cars to campus,” Harvey said.

She said she does worry that people will line up after 10:30 a.m. to get parking spots, or that students will park there because they don’t know about the change.

Harvey said if students take the change as a positive thing, she would look at other parking lots to be made into car pool lots.

So far, seven people have signed up for the car pool program. The green “E” lot can hold 90 vehicles.

The red bike program is another program that the office of parking and transportation provides.

“ We do anything we can to encourage different types of alternative transportation,” Harvey said.