During the first few weeks of a new semester at Citrus College, parking can be difficult because an influx of new, and returning, students are trying to get the best parking for their classes.
“In the first couple weeks of any new session, come early,” Todd Dickson, Department of Campus Safety lead officer said.
The busiest times of the day, in terms of parking, are from 8 a.m. to around 12 p.m., Dickson said.
Students would benefit from arriving to school early, because during mornings, the parking lots are highly busy with everyone trying to find the closest parking. As a result, arriving early is the best way to get parking.
Other ways to make parking easier include carpooling, public transportation or being dropped off. These are easy ways to eliminate the hassle of parking by having someone else drive.
The Foothill Transit has buses that start and end at Citrus College going in all directions. These bus stops are located north and west of Citrus College.
“I usually drive to school, but lately I’ve just been taking the bus to school instead of dealing with all the traffic, ” Citrus student Samantha Barbosa said. “Maybe after the first month or so I will be able to drive back to school, but the way it is now, I will not even try it.”
Every student is required to have a parking pass on campus. They are accessible by purchasing them on the Iparq website, which can be located on the Citrus College website.
Another option is the Automated Payment Services (APS) machines which dispense a daily parking permit. These machines are in all student lots.
There is also metered parking located in the Student one (S1), Student four (S4) and Employee parking six (E6).
Parking citations are given to vehicles that do not abide by the rules of Citrus College. Parking rules include:
- Parking without a permit
- Parking in employee parking without an employee permit
- Parking in handicap parking without a handicap placard
- Parking in an expired metered stall, double parking
- Not parking in a designated parking spot
- Parking head out of a parking spot
If students and staff follow these guidelines and show up early, there should be no problem with parking, Sabrina Lopez, Department of Campus Safety program assistant, said.
Students may feel there is not enough parking here at Citrus College, however, Dickson said he believes this is not the case.
If students feel that there is not enough parking on campus, there is parking in the annex located west of campus on the crossroads of Foothill Boulevard and Rockvale Avenue from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
During the first couple of weeks of fall, the amount of people parking is going to lessen as people decide to drop classes.
As long as students arrive early enough and follow the rules of Citrus College, their experience with parking will be one that is positive, Lopez said.
