With an increase of students in Tallahassee purchasing motorcycles, bikers struggle to find proper parking accommodations.
Some students agree that Florida A&M University lacks convenient parking for students with motorcycles.
“It makes it hard for students to even bring a motorcycle on campus knowing it might get a ticket or towed, said T.J. Henderson, 20, a political science student.
FAMU students are only allowed to register one vehicle. This leaves some motorcyclists having to choose whether to register their car or their bike.
FAMU only has two motorcycles registered on campus, according to FAMU Department of Public Safety Chief James Lockley.
Lockley said one of the reasons why it is difficult to accommodate students with motorcycles is because FAMU cannot make an accurate assessment of the amount of students that actually ride them.
Although parking for motorcycles is becoming an issue on FAMU’s campus, Carol A. Domeski, director of parking and transportation at Florida State University said the Florida State University campus included motorcycle parking since 1980.
“Last year there were 761 motorcycles registered and 200 parking spaces, which does not count parking near classes,” Domeski said.
This semester FSU has 383 motorcycles registered and is expected to have 800 more in the coming school year.
Hunter R. Hughes, assistant director for parking and transportation at FSU said motorcycle parking at FSU is $55.85, which is less than $5 over FAMU students pay in transportation fees. Hughes said FSU is expecting to have even more motorcycle parking for its students this year.
FSU is not the only college with motorcycle parking in Tallahassee. Tallahassee Community College can now accommodate for its students with motorcycles.
At TCC, there are three major sections available on campus that hold up to 20 bikes park motorcycles, according to Lt. John Stephen Sellers, from TCC’s campus police department.
The official amount of motorcycles registered on TCC’s campus is unknown, because registering vehicles is not a requirement.
Although TCC and FSU addressed the lack of parking for motorcycles by delegating special parking areas, FAMU has continued to treat motorcycles like all other vehicles, which makes finding parking difficult.
For FAMU, properly assessing students with motorcycles will happen soon.
Lockley said in the future there may be an assessment to give motorcycle parking if more motorcycles wish to register their vehicles.