- Student , Campus
- 25/10/2019
Extra parking spaces and more bicycle racks
The TU/e campus will have 85 extra parking spaces and 152 extra bicycle racks in the short term. Real Estate Management will mostly arrange the existing spaces in a ‘smarter way’, and green areas and current facilities will not be sacrificed. In addition, the Internal Affairs Department is going to investigate how it can persuade TU/e staff and students to make ‘sustainable travel choices.’
Recently, 47 extra parking spaces were added in the area surrounding the Impuls building. The removal of a number of bicycle racks will create seventeen extra parking spaces for cars between Vertigo, Matrix and the Gaslab. Twelve extra parking spaces will be added at Fontys S1, and it will soon be possible to park on both sides of the road in the direction of the sports center; this will result in approximately ten additional parking spaces. With these extra parking spaces, the total number on campus is now just under two thousand.
Existing parking spaces will mostly be arranged in a ‘smarter way’ in order not to change the green character of campus, says Simone Vonken, policy officer Mobility at the Internal Affairs Department. Vonken says that there are enough parking spaces on the entire campus as it stands, but people have difficulty parking their cars close to the building where they work.
Vonken says that at this point, the arrival of Fontys on campus has hardly led to more parking pressure. “But we agreed to monitor this closely in the coming period.” TU/e, incidentally, owns the campus and is responsible for supplying sufficient parking spaces.
The shortage of parking spaces and bicycle racks was already apparent to the Internal Affairs Department, and it was confirmed once more by the results of a survey about mobility that the department sent out to TU/e staff members and students.
Cursor previously reported that parking facilities on campus will be outsourced to an external party in the future, and that plans for building a parking garage are under discussion. Vonken says that this will not be realized in the short term.
More bicycle racks
Extra bicycle racks will be placed at different locations this year, and racks will be renewed at a few other locations on campus. 123 bicycle racks will be placed at the Zwarte Doos, and room will be made at the Dommel bridge (behind Luna in the direction of the sports center) for about twenty more. Several old bicycle racks near the Student Sports Center (at the ring road) will be replaced by new ones. As a result, the total number of bicycle racks on campus will be approximately ten thousand. The survey showed that students express a specific need for unguarded bicycle facilities near the buildings.
Sustainable travel
The mobility survey, which was filled out by 1567 staff members, showed that many people already travel to campus by train or bike. About thirty percent travels by car. Nevertheless, the Internal Affairs Department decided to look into ways to encourage sustainable mobility. Vonken: “We are considering ways how to further reduce car use by offering attractive employment conditions, for instance by providing free public transport for some of our staff members. We still need to do more research on these options though, together with Personnel and Organization.” A recent article on Cursor’s site already mentioned plans to encourage staff members to make less use of a plane when travelling to symposia. Research showed that currently, a large number of staff members get on a plane for business travel, also within Europe.
Surveys also showed that there is a need (especially among students) for bicycle pumps in more buildings, and that staff members in particular would like to have lockers for wet cycling clothes, as well as showers. The showers will not be installed any time soon, Vonken says. The need for and possibilities of lockers and bicycle pumps will soon be discussed with building managers.
In the coming period, Real Estate Management and the Internal Affairs Department will examine which suggestions form the survey they intend to realize. “Our first priority are the quick wins, which were already in the pipeline anyway, and then we will look into other possibilities.”
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