The line of cars waiting to exit Carlmont after school is a sight that many students have become accustomed to.
However, these cars wouldn’t have been parked at school if the students hadn’t bought a parking permit beforehand.
On Sept. 4, parking permits went on sale for $100 each and will continue to be on sale until they have sold out.
“Students have to pay for parking on campus because it has been customary to do so for years, and that money is used to support ASB expenses,” said Shawn Gillogly, Carlmont’s treasurer.
There are only two parking lots that students can park in: the senior lot and the Scot’s Gym lot. Both of these require a parking permit.
Furthermore, only seniors are allowed to park in the senior lot, while all students are allowed to park in the Scot’s Gym lot.
In order to buy a parking permit, a student must fill out a parking permit request form. Upon completion of the form, they must give it to Gillogly along with a xerox of their driver’s license and current proof of insurance for the car that will be parked in the lot.
Some students find that buying a parking permit is beneficial, as it’s easier for them to park on campus.
“I wanted to get a parking permit because my zero period is in U hall, so it’s easier to get to my class,” Lexie Rianda, a junior, said. “I’m always rushed when I try to get to class after parking off of campus.”
Other students, like Cole Cross, a junior, chose not to buy a permit due to the traffic after school.
“I chose not to get a parking permit in the [Scot’s Gym] lot this year because of convenience. It would have been great to have a permit for going to school, but leaving after school would be much more difficult,” Cross said. “Due to the congestion of vehicles and pedestrians after school, it would take unreasonably long to leave campus. The time and stress of traffic was just one problem that I felt I needed to avoid.”
Since Cross does not have a parking permit, he parks his car off campus.
“I park along Alameda de Las Pulgas in the diagonal parking spaces. There is the burden of not having a guaranteed parking space, but to combat that, I try to get to school earlier,” Cross said.
It is not required that all students must park on campus, so many decide where to park based off of what is more convenient for them.
Rianda said, “I just want to make things easier for myself, and parking on campus benefits me more than parking off campus does.”
