By Araceli Diaz / Staff Writer

Parked metal (Edward Diaz / Asst. Photo Editor)

By Araceli Diaz / Staff Writer

Parking; this word alone is the cause for many headaches among faculty, staff and students.

The first weeks of each semester are notorious for the amount of time it takes to find parking.  

The closing of certain parking lots and the nonstop construction has contributed to the ever growing problem.  

The struggle for parking has caused many students to be late to class, be dropped from classes and even miss class.

 “The longest it has taken me before I gave up was about two and a half hours and I missed my class,” said Matthew Rossa.

Even the faculty is feeling the effects with constant distractions of people coming in late.

“There is definitely a problem with that, students are looking for parking and not in class on time,” said Les Dean, a geography instructor.

Riverside City College anticipated this problem and offered a solution.

Lot 33 is a parking lot located between Third Street and Market Street. RCC rented out 400 parking spots just for student, faculty and staff use.

The shuttles run on 15 minute intervals and the transit time is anywhere between 15 to 20 minutes.

The shuttle pick up and drop off point is located next to the Digital Library. The shuttles run from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

The problem with the shuttle service is that no one apparently knows about it.

“I have never heard of it and I even read the parking section in the catalog,” said Amber Elliot.

Avid users of the lot 33 shuttle service disagree.

“I got informed through my student e-mail and you’re supposed to check your student e-mail,” said Kim Phillip. “Maybe a lot of them don’t know about it, but this has been going on for a while so everyone should know about it.”

The other problem is that when students hear the word “shuttle” they automatically think the process will be a hassle.

“I just don’t think it will be worth the trouble,” said Virginia Nuñez.

“They run pretty well, the drivers are very nice and there never seems to be a problem. I’ve never had a problem,” said Michael Spain.

Clarence Taylor and Ken Irwin are the two shuttle drivers for the afternoon and night shift. The busy hours for the shuttle are in the mornings from 7:15-10 a.m.

The traffic winds down as the day goes by.

“No one is really waiting over seven minutes in either shuttle stop,” Taylor said.

Security may not be part of their job, but they want to make sure everyone is safe.

“We don’t leave until we see people get safely in their cars, especially at night,”  Irwin said.

“Everyone seems pretty happy with the service,” Phillip said.

Even to a point where the faculty and staff began using the service to avoid the parking struggles.

“A lot of people say they’d like to see it run longer,” Irwin said.  

The shuttle service will stop and the lot will close on March 31.