Parking Lot Shakeup

So you’re sitting there, bumper to bumper, stuck between two other cars and you’re going nowhere anytime soon. Time passes and minutes begin to feel like an eternity. This was the reality until about two weeks ago. 

The Parking Lot “procedure” has been restructured to allow exiting students more time before the buses carrying non-driving students leave. The buses have been streamlined to all go out at once, halting the remaining cars so as to not back up traffic. 

The newly refined process is meant to help traffic move more fluidly in the afternoon and morning, but especially in the afternoon when students have jobs to work (and for many of those students, homework).

Of course, time is of the essence when you have that kind of workload after school, so this new parking lot process has its critics, and its supporters. 

Sam Pfeiffer, junior, said, “On the days I go home right away, I think it makes it more inconvenient because I don’t always get out of class right away and end up getting stuck behind the buses.” 

Pfeiffer also said that there is a bus loop for a reason, and that the whole waiting part of the parking lot “remains somewhat irritating.”

On the other hand, students who don’t always work weekdays find it convenient to get out quicker and simply get homework done and relax most days. 

One such student is Morgan Doane, junior, who said, “It’s nice to get out faster than I did last year. Some days I have baseball practice and other days I just want to go home and sleep for a while.” 

Some students like the new changes, others do not. But for those who work nearly immediately after school, this new system has been a blessing of sorts. 

Ronin Dare, junior, rides the bus home and said that he starts his shift about 45 minutes after school lets out.

“Getting home is usually a pain because of the buses and cars getting mixed up in line, but the new system has given me more time to get ready and headed out,” he said. 

Dare said the new system saves him a solid 10 to 15 minutes on average.

The new system of streamlining the exit process saves some people time, and even costs others that same time; it has its flaws, but certainly met its goal of speeding up the process and allowing students those precious extra minutes in their day. 

With no word on any further improvements, the new way seems set in stone for the time being. Of course the first restructuring of these procedures might have caught some off guard, so perhaps a second one will as well. 

That means for the foreseeable future, no more being stuck behind someone who is way too heavy on their brakes, or just a plain bad driver.