I have an issue that I feel needs to be addressed in relation to on-campus traffic and parking: Motorbikes.
Consider the advantages of motorcycles, mopeds and scooters, both to the individual student and to the community. In the first place, they are significantly less expensive than their four-wheel counterparts. They use very little gas, thus reducing the pollution to the environment while helping to alleviate the worldwide problems that stem from the oil industry. Several motorbikes can fit in the space of a single car stall, thus helping to reduce the traffic and parking congestion on campus.
Yet BYU is not doing enough to encourage the use of motorbikes among the student body. Anyone who passes by the motorbike Y lot between the
Tanner building and the ASB can vouch for the fact that it is never more than 20 percent full, even though those spots are closer to the buildings than most faculty car stalls! The motorbike parking area east of the Wilkinson Center requires no permit, yet I never fail to find an open stall there.
Notwithstanding, they plan to increase the permit fees for motorbikes. If they try hard enough, the administration might even be able to get the percentage of used motorbike Y stalls down to 10 percent.
I propose that the administration encourage the use of motorbikes among the student community by eliminating the requirement to have a permit in order to park in any motorbike lot on campus. In addition, the areas in parking lots that are closest to the buildings should be converted to motorbike parking stalls.
One final word of advice to the bikers out there: Got a brain? Wear a helmet. I have heard that the heart transplant industry is driven by those who do not take necessary safety precautions when they ride their motorbikes. To those who drive cars to and from campus, I ask that you be considerate of the bikers out there. After all, we are helping to keep a parking stall free for you when you get to campus.
MICHAEL HALCROW
Lancaster, Calif.
