The Bay Meadows parking pinch

A decade ago, the city imposed a two-hour street parking limit on all residential roads to reduce vehicle use. However, in 2020, one year before I entered high school, the city stopped enforcing the rule because of the pandemic. The police department recently announced that the restrictions will resume for all residents and visitors in February.

Because of the neighborhood’s focus on sustainability, students at my school are not supposed to park on the streets surrounding our campus, and the school does not offer parking. Instead, every student is offered a free go-pass to take the Caltrain. My school assumes that students will take the train, bike or have their parents drive them. This works for most students. But for some of us, avoiding driving is not a practical solution.

My parents both work and also have to drop off my younger sister at a different school, which is in the opposite direction of Bay Meadows. I live 10 minutes from the train station and 10 minutes from school. Taking the train would mean driving or biking in the wrong direction first, paying for parking in the lot, and still walking from the station, which would mean waking up much earlier. So, like some other students, I often drive to school. Since there’s no official parking, I’ve found alternatives using the two-hour zones in nearby neighborhoods that were rarely monitored. But starting in February, that won’t be an option. 

I’ll admit that I technically could bike to school if I could get past waking up much earlier for my commute. Some students already do and, in an ideal world, I’d have the time and ability to make that switch. But as someone involved in sports, hauling gear on a bike every day isn’t very practical. Even if I did, there are still infrastructure issues on my way to school. Safe bike lanes, secure storage and overall accessibility need improvement before biking can be a viable alternative for everyone.

Once parking enforcement resumes, my parents will likely have to drive me more often, resulting in twice the car trips and emissions. That is hardly a win for the sustainability Bay Meadows promotes.

With no straightforward alternatives, my mornings are about to get much more stressful. After first hearing about the change, I was frustrated. But then I began to wonder: Was this just an unreasonable crackdown, or was it the motivation I needed to reconsider my transportation methods?

While I still believe my reasons for driving myself are valid, I recognize there are ways I can start making better choices for the environment. Maybe that means carpooling with friends more often, and thus spending less on Caltrain fees, or biking on days when I don’t have sports practice. 

I support Bay Meadows’ goal of fostering sustainability. Still, if local leaders want to reduce car dependency, they must ultimately aim to make public transportation the easier, cheaper and more logical option across the county. Sustainability efforts can’t only happen in one place. Until then, no amount of signage or enforcement will change the simple fact that, for many people, driving is the easiest option.

Josie Belfer is a senior at Nueva School in San Mateo. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.