Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet • Hacker News Board

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#81

Post by cortesoft » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 5:23 PM UTC

Thriptic wrote: post #48

cortesoft wrote: post #26

> Obviously, some students thought that fee was ridiculous – just like paying for parking at a university where you’re already paying a hefty tuition fee I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device. However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spa…

Increase supply. Most schools use flat parking lots instead of multistory car parks which would be far more efficient. Alternatively, run public transportation that doesn't suck.

Building a bigger parking lot requires money... who should pay for that, all students or just students who drive?

Why should non-driving students subsidize driving students?

Also, the school is not in charge of public transportation.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#82

Post by apcragg » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 5:23 PM UTC

Thriptic wrote: post #48

cortesoft wrote: post #26

> Obviously, some students thought that fee was ridiculous – just like paying for parking at a university where you’re already paying a hefty tuition fee I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device. However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spa…

Increase supply. Most schools use flat parking lots instead of multistory car parks which would be far more efficient. Alternatively, run public transportation that doesn't suck.

A spot in a multistory parking desk costs upwards of $30,000 per spot. Even if you oversell permits by 2x and assume a 50-year lifespan with no maintenance, that is still $300/yr per parking permit. Why should students who want the exclusive right to leave their property on campus be subsidized by students who take more space/environmentally efficients modes of getting to campus?

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#83

Post by Wowfunhappy » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 5:24 PM UTC

cgriswald wrote: post #72

cortesoft wrote: post #26

> Obviously, some students thought that fee was ridiculous – just like paying for parking at a university where you’re already paying a hefty tuition fee I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device. However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spa…

My community college had more parking spaces than students on campus at any given time. They then did construction, resulting in one of the largest lots and some of the smaller lots being closed. There was still would have been enough parking for everyone, except they then rented out another parking lot to a pair of local companies. So, we ended up paying for parking when no parking was actually available. This was,…

> The schools initial response to the problem was to get on campus earlier; which is an absolutely absurd statement for a community college since the demographics include a lot of single mothers and otherwise working adults.

Also, if everyone came earlier in order to get a parking spot, there would still be no spots, because everyone came earlier.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#84

Post by srhngpr » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 5:24 PM UTC

acdha wrote: post #65

teej wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because using scrap cars to exhaust the barnacle supply is a hilarious way to hack the system for the benefit of other students.

How does this “benefit” other students? They're the ones who are being inconvenienced by scofflaws and if it's like most other places quite likely endangered: the same people who park illegally tend to be cavalier about blocking bike lanes and curb cuts, speeding, rolling through crosswalks, etc.

>the same people who park illegally tend to be cavalier about blocking bike lanes and curb cuts, speeding, rolling through crosswalks, etc.

this is generalization at the next level.

Anecdotally, when I was in university, I saw parking fees for the spot that I paid for in my first semester go from $180 for the semester (13 weeks) to $600/semester in my 4th year. I think parking tends to be a bit of an issue at many universities across north america.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#85

Post by acdha » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 5:24 PM UTC

gonehome wrote: post #52

cortesoft wrote: post #26

> Obviously, some students thought that fee was ridiculous – just like paying for parking at a university where you’re already paying a hefty tuition fee I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device. However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spa…

If if I was trying to solve this problem and actually cared about the students I would do some capacity based pricing. Almost always free, as you approach parking capacity price increases. You could probably also set up a system to text people who have been there more than X hours that they will start to be charged due to high capacity.

The problem is that people need to know in advance to change their behavior: tell them that today will cost $20 and people will take the campus shuttle, bike, or walk. Tell them that you’re charging more after they got there just makes it stressful and won’t change behavior unless it happens often enough to be highly predictable - just like many people drive hoping traffic won’t be bad today because they’re prone to dismissing bad events as outliers.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#86

Post by u801e » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 5:24 PM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #26

> Obviously, some students thought that fee was ridiculous – just like paying for parking at a university where you’re already paying a hefty tuition fee I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device. However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spa…

> how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spaces?

Presumably most students are living on or not too far from campus. What should be done to get more of them to use transportation options that don't involve driving to and parking on campus?

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#87

Post by acdha » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 5:26 PM UTC

phkahler wrote: post #60

AJ007 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The SIM card thing might be a felony.

Didnt a court recently rule that someone taking off a GPS tracker (and throwing it away?) was not theft? My memory is fuzzy on that one.

That’s different: in this case the student was knowingly using a metered service and would have no reason for doing so other than shifting their cost to someone else.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#88

Post by greedo » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 5:26 PM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #81

Thriptic wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Increase supply. Most schools use flat parking lots instead of multistory car parks which would be far more efficient. Alternatively, run public transportation that doesn't suck.

Building a bigger parking lot requires money... who should pay for that, all students or just students who drive? Why should non-driving students subsidize driving students? Also, the school is not in charge of public transportation.

It's a slippery slope when discussing subsidizing. Should students who are Lit majors subsidize expensive research labs? Or sports teams? College costs really can't be a la carte.

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#89

Post by cortesoft » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 5:27 PM UTC

gonehome wrote: post #52

cortesoft wrote: post #26

> Obviously, some students thought that fee was ridiculous – just like paying for parking at a university where you’re already paying a hefty tuition fee I hate parking fees as much as the next person, and totally appreciate the creativity of the people who defeated this device. However, how should we handle distributing a limited number of parking spaces when there are more people who want to park than available spa…

If if I was trying to solve this problem and actually cared about the students I would do some capacity based pricing. Almost always free, as you approach parking capacity price increases. You could probably also set up a system to text people who have been there more than X hours that they will start to be charged due to high capacity.

> I would do some capacity based pricing.

How do you think parking prices are set? They set a price that results in the parking lot mostly full most of the time. They even vary prices by time of day, sometimes.

Also, school parking usage is pretty predictable. Students are parked there while they go to class. Are you expecting them to leave class if parking gets too expensive?

Re: Students defeat new 'Barnacle' parking clamp, skip fines and get free internet

#90

Post by prostheticvamp » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 5:27 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #28

awillen wrote: post #6

"a user who found out his campus only had 12 wheel boots to go around and bought and illegally parked 12 scrapyard cars that could be “sacrificed” so everyone else could park however they wanted." Not all heroes wear capes.

Why is everyone in this thread celebrating people who park selfishly?! Taking up spaces with abandoned cars is a particularly miserable thing to do that makes the original underlying problem worse!

Because schools pretend to charge cash in order to separate casual drivers from those that absolutely need it. However, given the costs of car ownership and tuition, the cost of parking permits are generally (a) not a deterrant to “casual drivers” (people willing to bear the cost without urgent need), (b) disproportionately impactful on those that Do need to drive, (c) basically just milking students.

Of course people cheer fucking with that