Woe! Lack of parking at Queen's Uni, Belfast

[Ming the Merciless]

It's not a major thing

Then why is parking an issue if we are talking one or two students having cars?

 

[boydj]

Well for contrast, my car was in the garage getting some work done.

Train station is about a mile from the office, went to get train and it was cancelled so I went to walk to the bus station which is about another half mile away and those were cancelled too.

If I hadn’t of got a lift from a family member it would have taken me nearly 2hrs to travel 10miles home.

Perfect distance for a cycle commute.

 

[DCLane]

Lots of my students have cars, many parking them in my university building's underground car park. It can get busy most days but often they only come in for classes.

Note that not all students live locally to their university, with an increasing number choosing to live at home.

However having been a student in NI with a car, albeit not at Queen's, this has been going on for decades. I lived in Belfast in 1991-2 and the lack of parking was in the media back then. SWMBO had students parking on her road because it was 5 minutes from the campus.

 

[Drago]

I don't understand this aspiration to own a car, this desire to acquire a wallet emptying b*****d at the earliest opportunity.

 

[rogerzilla]

I wouldn't want to be the only student with a car. Look what happened with Flounder in "Animal House".

 

[Drago]

Indeed, like Kyle in Road Trip.

 

[lazybloke]

I don't understand this aspiration to own a car, this desire to acquire a wallet emptying b*****d at the earliest opportunity.

You'll have to ask someone who thinks cars are aspirational.

For me aged 18 having finished my A Levels, a car was just a means of getting to work from a tiny village that didn't have any jobs or useful public transport options.
The car itself was a rusting wreck of a free, abandoned Leyland monstrosity ; not aspirational in any way.

And I ran it on a shoestring; with self-taught repair & maintenance skills from a workshop manual, and parts from scrap yards.
Spent 15 months driving round 3 counties earning money as a sparks before heading off to uni.
So far from emptying my wallet, it enabled an income; very useful, particularly during uni holidays.

 

[fossyant]

You'll have to ask someone who thinks cars are aspirational.

Some of this is 'cultural'. We have a high level of Muslim students (about 25%) at our Uni, and many drive, most have flash cars from mum and dad. Cycling is not on the cards.

 

[Drago]

You'll have to ask someone who thinks cars are aspirational.

For me aged 18 having finished my A Levels, a car was just a means of getting to work from a tiny village that didn't have any jobs or useful public transport options.
The car itself was a rusting wreck of a free, abandoned Leyland monstrosity ; not aspirational in any way.

And I ran it on a shoestring; with self-taught repair & maintenance skills from a workshop manual, and parts from scrap yards.
Spent 15 months driving round 3 counties earning money as a sparks before heading off to uni.
So far from emptying my wallet, it enabled an income; very useful, particularly during uni holidays.

Mine only ever emptied my wallet. Despite living in villages all my life until last year I almost exclusively cycled to work my entire working life.

 

[lazybloke]

Some of this is 'cultural'. We have a high level of Muslim students (about 25%) at our Uni, and many drive, most have flash cars from mum and dad. Cycling is not on the cards.

When people don't consider active travel options or other exercise, it's to their physical and mental detriment. Their loss.
Most of the time at uni, my car sat rusting and NOT looking flash. My day-to-day travel was on foot or by bike.

As an adult with two children, I spent 12 recent years without a car of my own; using bike or train for work. I have a car again now, but it's small, competent and efficient rather than being flash, fast or noisy (it's a polo).

 

[T4tomo]

Students are going soft, they should all ride bikes, that what being a student is about. The only plausible exception is Vivian in The Young Ones..... definitely not soft.

 

[Rusty Nails]

I don't understand this aspiration to own a car, this desire to acquire a wallet emptying b*****d at the earliest opportunity.

When did you get your first car?

 

[Sixmile]

The location of Queens uni is one of the most built up and busiest parts of Belfast, being a stone's throw from the City Hospital and only a mile or so from the city centre. Parking has always been restricted up there.

My work is beside the new University of Ulster, which is actually smack bang in the centre of town. The traffic congestion has increased 5 fold. We've had to install a barrier on our work car park to stop students driving in and blocking in staff cars - or driving in and damaging cars (as happened to me). Fortunately we have a grubby little rat infested and pigeon crap covered lane to park our bikes in as an alternative. Oh to have the cycle facility of the uni with their indoor heated rack mounted fob controlled secure storage which is teasingly around 30 metres from our 'facility'.

 

[Sixmile]

Indeed, like Kyle in Road Trip.

He boinked though.

 

[ColinJ]

I don't understand this aspiration to own a car, this desire to acquire a wallet emptying b*****d at the earliest opportunity.

The Missus wasn't around to physically restrain me this time, and I've gone and bought another pedestrian slaughtering, nun murdering, puppy torturing, Guardian reader annoying 4x4.

T'is a 1994 Fronter 2.4 petrol on mud tyres. Very smart and clean, just failed its MOT on emissions and rear brakes. Reckon I can fix it up and get a year's ticket easy enough.

I don't need an extra fourbie, or have any use for one. I just like them.