Have any of you tried to get a bus during school hours? At peak times?

Catch a grip, Queens gets paid a fortune by us and for what?

To be fleeced on a daily basis!!!!!

I think you should check your facts before you go commenting on a topic you no nothing about.

Is this due to the roaving gangs of lunatics that roam the streets between University Road and Great Victoria Street?

Last time I checked Belfast didn’t feature on the list of “Cities most likely to be kidnapped in”.

You’re in a modern Western European city with street lights and police. At any time when busses are running there is a constant stream of people going up and down that road.

There is also if you notice a metro bus service that picks up… wait for it… OUTSIDE THE STUDENTS UNION WHICH IS OPEN UNTIL AT LEAST 1 AM and then DROPS YOU OUTSIDE THE BUS STATION.

http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/EstatesDepartment/ServicesDivision/CarParking/CurrentCarParkingTariffs/

£240 a year. And there’s a waiting list.

If so, nice one. However I think there are much more important matters to be dealt with than parking spaces. What about more university housing for those of us who decided to leave home for Uni?

Charlemane and all you students saying how we car commuters should all just jump on a bus are incredibly short sighted. Not all buses come regularly, not all buses are on time and not all buses pick up from every hole in the hedge. I have a good walk to my bus stop!

Oh and just for your benefit Danny Gillen, if you just open you’re little eyes you’ll see that most of the student population can’t afford a ‘new golf or whatever’ and are grateful for what they can afford. I drive a 1999 corsa, i’m grateful for it and i fund it myself. So stop being bitter about it. If you’re jealous of people with new golfs, go get a job and earn one!

http://petition.co.uk/paid_parking_qub

Did you have anything constructive to say about parking in and around QUB?

@Nicci
Yes I do pay rent, bills, etc. I have a student loan but that’s it. I wouldn’t say I’m living like a rockstar but I’m far from starving, can afford a wee drink once in a while!

In relation to other people arguing about carparks I think you’re being ridiculous. If Queen’s wanted to make more spaces available they could always make a small multi-story on the new library’s car park site. Something akin to the city hospital’s disabled parking one.

It would be expensive but there appears to be a market for guaranteed spaces. That suggests they could make the money back and eventually profit. But this is speculation and would obviously require proper market research.

However, the major flaw would be that the aesthetics of the new library would be ruined. I believe that this is important to QUB for PR purposes. After all, that’s the reason the library looks like a futuristic church isn’t it?

I ride a bike. Through the park. With a frisbee. And a picnic. And my life doesn’t suck.

@John B. Dick
That’d be John Being a Dick then?

Also you’re saying that one group of people have more right to something than another. How very open minded of you.

I have no use for a park, if I feel the need to throw a frisbee the city centre wouldn’t be my first choice, I’d drive my car to the beach where theres acres of land to play frisbee on. Obviously you wanting to play games and maybe have a wee picnic is more important than me parking my car within walking range of my place of education.

Wise up? Yes, maybe we should just accept it the way it is. Is that what Queens is teaching you? Maybe you should wise up, open your eyes.

Is it not strange that every other big organisation in belfast can afford to buy land and build car parks? I wouldn’t care if it was a seven storey car park, or if it was underground. Did QUB not spend millions on a new sports facility recently? strange that they found the cash and land for that. Nothing against building a new facility, I’m all for development, but why not build a car park under it?

Or, you guys could wise up.

Queens, over the years, should have realised that more people are getting cars and relying on them more heavily for their daily commuting, and therefore planned a way to accommodate this for their students – aren’t they supposed to be at the cutting edge of creative thinking?

Queens should definitely implement some form of car parking for teachers and students alike, and follow in the footsteps of UU and provide schemes like paying £80 a year for full parking privileges because it means more people would probably car share and therefore cut down on carbon emissions etc.

And Danny, the reason we can afford cars and the ability to run them is because not only do we know the value of money and how to save, we also juggle Work, and don’t blow all our loan on going out every night and missing the classes we’re paying thousands for.

Boo-hoo

Quick calculation of what I spend driving up and down on the weekends from the tyrone/monaghan border suggests that I’d spend £200 a month commuting if I wanted to.

Which would actually be a lot cheaper than renting. That is, if just one more person came with and chipped in on the diesel. And, even on my own it could be worth it because I wouldn’t be paying for electric or food.

I think it’s narrow-minded to suggest all commuters should just start renting instead. There are always going to be good reasons why people travel. Whether that be because of the cost, the parental motivation to get some work done or any number of possible personal reasons.

That being said, I don’t think queens are going to magically start sprouting car parks either. Although a scheme that rewarded the students and the staff that choose to car share could possibly lead to more spaces being available.

Personally I wouldn’t travel. I hate traffic queues almost as much as I do early mornings.

If there happened to be a massive unused field right beside the Lanyon that would be one thing… but it seems like all available space is used.

The fact that staff get first priority (or sometimes exclusive access) to the carparks behind Queen’s seems fair enough to me.

Likewise, in surrounding residential areas (i.e Stranmillis, Lisburn Road etc), it seems you’d have to assume there’ll be limited parking because residents will be occupying those spaces. Again, this does not seem unfair.

This leaves a limited number of other spots (such as along Univ. Square) for others who are essentially visitors to the area (i.e not workers or residents) to fight over! It is a problem not only faced by students, but by people going for lunch in surrounding coffee shops, people taking their kids to the park etc etc…

The fact of the matter is, parking is a nightmare in South Belfast. Everyone knows this! I can totally see how students who are dealing with this reality on a daily basis would be very irritated, but I’m not really sure what Queen’s can do about it. They can’t make available what simply isn’t there.

Comparing the situation at Queens to the UU is just plain stupid. The spaces are completely different. If it means so much to be able to drive to uni maybe you should transfer to UU or better still stay at home and do your degree with the open university.

I honestly don’t know why they can’t provide parking for those of us living at home but it is also important to note that only a limited number are given spaces at Elms and even then they need to pay £80 for it.

Really do feel like Queen’s need to do seomthing about those who travel because it is unfair how we are just neglected.

For grown up people in real life that don’t have the time to ‘get an earlier bus’ personal transport is the only option. Public transport cannot be relied upon in the city nevermind rural areas surrounding Belfast.

I’m amazed how narrow minded people can be about public transport, sure it’s fine for you when you have a bus outside your door every 5 minutes. There are many areas in the city that mean walking just to get to a bus stop. Areas outside Belfast may only have a bus every hour if even that and even then its very possible your nearest bus stop is over five miles away.

To the point of the lack of parking (which you all seem to have avoided) why do Queens not provide parking for its students? My local chinese, chip shop, indian, off license, supermarket and corner shop ALL provide parking for their customers, I can take my car there anytime and know I’ll get parked.

Does Queens even care? once you’ve paid your fees you’re just a number. Queens is very quickly developing a reputation for not caring about its students, inside or outside of the lecture hall.

You people saying toget the bus, do you always eat what the government puts in your bowl? Grow a spine, sit up, question the system, maybe even develop your own opinion.

There are great bus and train routes to Queen’s and I have no problem getting the bus when i don’t have work but i am still paying insurance, tax etc for a car – i’d like to get my moneys worth. I have 4 lectures in a row on some days so that eliminates my ability to park and pay for an hour. I would still get a ticket.

I don’t feel that having a car park would encourage more students to drive, rather it would encourage students that already have to drive to car share and not have to deal with the prospect of getting up at 6am to get a space for 7am when lectures don’t start until 11am. If Queen’s followed the University of Ulster’s example and paid £80 for a year parking and brought 3 friends – £20 each. Much better option.

there are the park and ride facilities in Sprucefield.

If you’re coming from further afield, say Lisburn, Bangor, Portadown, etc. then there is always the train to Botanic.

To be honest, the only time I could think of a student needing a car for commuting to University is if they are from somewhere over an hours drive away like Downpatrick, Newry, Omagh, etc. and in that case, it’d probably be cheaper to be renting a house in the area.