So after nearly a week of the new semester I must admit that the pedestrianization of campus has indeed changed life greatly. But where the university, in its infinite wisdom, thought this would result in more walkers and bikers and users of public transport, really what has happened as far as I can tell is all the students who can’t be bothered to walk or ride their bikes or grab one of the Transits instead chauffeur each other to class at all hours of the day. (This, despite there supposedly being no zones where C permit people are allowed to drive… but, well.) Consequently the real result of less cars on campus has been simply to increase those in the streets and intersections so that we now experience traffic deadlocks on a daily basis which we used to have to wait til home game Fridays to enjoy. Not quite as bad as game days themselves but I have high hopes of its getting worse before it gets better. Of course this makes people like me (= smart ones) be more strategic about when they do venture out in actual vehicles to go places as well as which places they go both to avoid contributing to the bottlenecking and to maintain healthy mental and arterial health… Of course, though, there aren’t many people like me it would seem. Kee. Incidentally sidewalks on the way to and from school seem no more crowded to me (which I don’t mind since I don’t have to look up from my NYT Book Review any more often than before to keep from colliding with people), even at class change times, and the bike racks at my building look only perhaps 10% more full than they used to, too…
And so it goes.
7 commentaires:
Oh man. I believe it! Hmmmm, why would the dropping people off and causing traffic jams stop after they made one major road a sidewalk? It just means less roads to drop people off! Silly school planners!
I can just see protest signs "we pay tuition so that we can drive!" "I can't get an A without a parking spot" "no one can get to class without a car!"
Oh and the excuses...
"So my roommate, had like, ah, um test or something and really to, like, really get to class on time because her teacher, like locks the door at the start of class, and so, like, I just had to drop her off to her class so, like, I missed my, um, quiz so like, why can't I retake it?"
oops, I am not supposed to be this bitter, I am done teaching for now!
well and you can't imagine really Jess - if it were only still as simple as that one street's being gone -- you pretty much can't get close to HC in a vehicle at all and there's virtually no driving on Duncan or the tip end of Thach (how we used to access the pit) either.. (there are other streets off limits now as well but those are the ones I'm most aware of since I can see them on my walk and hear people griping about them) i should say, there's not supposed to be, because of course students buzz thru there whenever they can - for that matter lots of other people do to since everyone is so confused now... but walking/biking? yeah right! (and it's not all the students really - there has been so much griping from the faculty about having to walk the few minutes from the deck to HC --yes the few minutes that do indeed make me nervous if it's super late night but that's a different issue:) -- that they are going to have a shuttle, Gio told me yesterday -- bear in mind they have handicapped spots still right outside the building so they're not forcing everyone to go to the deck regardless, but people who are perfectly capable of walking 200 yards now need a bus?!)
ps plus the excuses have already begun - mostly transit ones -- SS seem to think that if a TT bus is late, that is a valid excuse for missing class or being late, rather than their needing to take an earlier one to avoid being late. Or the converse: Gio has a student who declared she had to leave early from class in order to catch TT every day. The rest of the world (well not the whole rest of the world but places where public transportation is commonplace) understands that it is still your responsibility to allow for such things in your personal scheduling... hmmmmm.
wow, privileged children. . .bet the course catalog doesn't say: "AND, you'll learn how to use public transportation, so that you can gain creds while you earn course credit, becoming ever more-so the super hipster that you know really are, 'roughing it' like the poor, learning all about the elements and exact change!"
alternatively, "Get a head start on being burdened by rising interest rates on your student loans - learn to use the bus NOW!"
new words:
pedumbstrians
stupedestrians
You missed your calling Trace! You could switch to Sniglets if you get tired of the newspaper biz. :)
Yeah - don't get me started on the affluence and privilege dripping off a lot of these kids. Which, really these things in and of themselves are not bad but it's how they've internalized it so that many truly would be dumbfounded to know the world does not revolve around them. It's a drastic change from when I was here as a grad student and we still had plenty of normal people. This being said, yes there are decent people here, but sometimes it's hard to focus on that... The spoiled ones make for a pretty big Squeaky Wheel majority.
I was just laughing again at the course catalog entry ideas, kee.
Holy cow I can't believe I wrote "to" instead of "too" up there. The horror, the horror!!!
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