Fay Hansen

Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

 

The Post’s  Sept. 19 editorial:  Why not give parking a “green”—as in sustainable—light? The Bear Bus and the now defunct bike program are/were good starts, but there are so many other creative options out there.

1.) Car pooling:  What if OU employees decided to do more car-pooling to free up spots for students? The administration might offer some incentives, even though gas and mileage savings should be enough. Car-pooling may be more complicated with many students working part-time jobs, but it’s not impossible and a few students are indeed doing it. What if instructors initiated a car pool sign-up for their classes?  I challenge our creative students and even our mathematical modelers, engineers, sociology, psychology or business classes to come up with a plan that works for our campus community. SEMCOG has a commuter matching program (www.semcog.org/MiRideshare.aspx), and the nearby tech parks extend the pool of potential riders from every community.

2.) Buses: Why not push for more public transportation?  SMART buses periodically stop  briefly on campus, but  there are no posted bus stops or shelters on campus and  the nearest listing for the SMART bus on-line trip planner is actually Baker College — no listing for OU.

3.) Outlying Parking: OU might also take a lead in developing an off-campus mini-transportation system from nearby underutilized paved lots in the Pontiac area for our campus community, thereby also, lending economic help to our nearby city?

4.)  Walking and biking: Promoting safer walking and biking paths and intersections connecting the nearby recreational bike trails to campus would be a huge help for those seeking healthy but safe routes to campus.

Let’s all be part of the solution, not the problem.