Parking turmoil at Turner Field

In what has become a staple issue for some, students were upset last week after the Turner Field parking schedule was amended, which left them guessing where to park. Turner Field was originally planned to close last Thursday and Friday due to the PGA Tour, the Atlanta Braves games and other events but opened up Thursday afternoon.

Darrius Cooper, a sophomore at Georgia State, believes that Marta is a more reliable form of transportation. "It's not perfect, but it's a good option," he says. According to data provided by itsmarta.com, of the 500,000 daily Marta boarding passengers in 2007, 54 percent were customers going to work and 10 percent used it to get to school.

"Marta is a more reliable method of transportation depending on your situation," says Cordoh Tarr, a senior at Georgia State. "If you live two minutes away from a train station then it is simple to leave your car at home and take the train for the day that Turner Field is shut down."

"But if you have a situation like myself," continues the biology major, "where you live twenty minutes away from the closest Marta station it's almost like you might as well go ahead and drive to the city instead of wasting gas money and still having to pay $5 round trip."

Georgia State officials also encouraged students who normally park at Turner Field to park in and around other areas of campus, including a few parking decks, Auburn Street and Luckie Street. "Parking on/near campus is both more reliable and convenient because you can more accurately manage your schedule by not having to wait for and ride the panther express, a pro- cess that can sometimes take up to 25 minutes," says Howard Kelsey, a junior and sociology major at Georgia State. "I think being able to park at Turner Field is a great service provided by Georgia State," Kelsey continues. "However, the limited number of spots and inefficiency of the Panther Express makes it a hassle to utilize." Some, such as Kelsey, students think Georgia State has room to improve its parking situation. "I think that by implementing a more concrete Panther Express schedule and making more parking spaces available to Georgia State students at Turner Field would drastically

reduce, if not eliminate, this issue [of Georgia State students confusion over parking]," Kelsey says. "Georgia State could do a text message service for faster response time," Cooper suggests. But other students believe Georgia State can only do so much. Tarr, who parks at Turner Field on Tuesday's and Thurs- day's, says "I honestly don't know if there is anything Georgia State can do about the confusion. They are making due the best way they can with what they have."