With the busyness of buses and the stress of schedules, students driving themselves to school often makes their lives more convenient.
It’s common that driving to school helps students manage their time more efficiently and arrive at school on time. “I drive to school because my parents leave early in the morning to work, so it’s easier for me to drive myself,” said Kaitlyn Juhl ’27.
Recently, students and staff report that finding a place to park has become quite a challenge.
Riordan is next to the City College of San Francisco parking lot, but Riordan students and staff recently became restricted from parking there.
Because of this, members of the Riordan community need to find separate parking lots or street parking spaces as locations to park their cars before they can make their way to school.
Students who drive to school have said it is often difficult for them to find a parking space, usually taking them around 10 to 15 minutes to secure one.
This setback means they need to arrive at school far earlier than normal in order to be on time.
Yet sometimes, students are still tardy due to the limited parking availability.
Head of Campus Safety Viggen Rassam ’87 commented, “Parking challenges affect both staff and students at our school, but they impact students particularly hard given how much parking has disappeared in recent years. Like many other schools in San Francisco and on the Peninsula, we’re dealing with limited land in a dense urban environment.”
Although there is a parking lot at Riordan, teachers still face challenges when it comes to parking.
“There are not enough parking spots for faculty and staff. I can’t take public transportation as I live on the Peninsula, and it is not convenient to get to public transportation,” said math instructor Carol Pineda. “I often park a mile away with my heavy backpack filled with papers and a lunch and walk or run to my first class.”
As more students become dependent on self-transportation, the new parking situation becomes more prominent, and the recent restriction of the CCSF parking lot has brought about major inconveniences to the Riordan community.
