Back to School

Its that time of year again. I'm back to school (this time at ODU) and I'm ready to start talking about HRT, Virginia Beach and said parties' bus routes. I am attempting to go the entire semester without paying for parking at ODU. I feel that the $98 semester parking fee is a bit excessive, so I refuse to pay it. So, to get past this I will utilize any legal means to achieve my goal. Step one. Get my FREE bus pass from ODU. Unfortunately, one cannot receive this until precisely one week before class. Pointless, I think, considering all of the due dates prior to the start of the semester. Regardless, I have my bus pass. Monday was my first day of class. It will be held at the VA Beach Higher Education Center, near TCC. My class was from 4:00ish until about 7PM. I looked up the bus routes. Getting there is no problem. Getting home, however, is a different story. My class is over at 7. The last bus pulls out at 6:48. So I can gamble on being let out early and risk being stranded, or I can drive. So I drove. I borrowed a car and drove. Then I had to park. Remember I'm not paying the fee. The meter has a one-hour limit (to discourage their repeated use). So I drive around until I find the closest neighborhood without a parking restriction and I park and walk.
I don't mind walking. I will walk over a mile to avoid paying for parking but the closest bus route to the VBHEC is 4.5 miles away, on VA Beach Blvd (Route #20). Enough is enough. VA Beach has to recognize that people DO ride the bus in the evening. I know that they are starting to look at Light Rail options for the city. I also know that they want Federal money and in order to achieve that money they need to raise the percentage of their population that rides their existing bus routes. In order to do this they need to get it through their minds that people don't just ride TO their destination; they need a way back. And yes, VA Beach, people DO come in from other cities on the bus. That means that they need a way out. Come on, Beach, its time for a change. The congestion is outrageous and there IS NO ALTERNATIVE!