15A- Buyer Behavior #2

What’s up blog, 

This week, I interviewed three different people, to evaluate potential alternatives to my solution. This will allow me to evaluate 

The first individual is named Jenny. She is a friend of mine who commutes to campus and works as a teaching assistant. She has to commute to campus for her personal classes, for the lectures she assists teaching with, and for various meetings/other events. As she is still an undergrad, she has issues with parking on campus as well. She currently uses UF’s park and ride system, but is unhappy with it. I asked her what solution she would use if parking near campus wasn’t an option. She complained about using public transportation, especially because she teaches at night, and often feels unsafe about the bus. Furthermore, she has to walk 1 mile to the bus stop from her apartment, which makes her feel very uncomfortable at night. She said her best option would to uber from her apartment, but it is not cost effective, and she is already struggling with student loans.

The next person I talked to was Jared. He is in my fraternity, but lives down 13^thstreet 2 miles from Shand’s. When I asked him about his commute, he also tries to park near or on campus, but doesn’t have a permanent solution. He claims that he has a UF Park and Ride decal, but doesn’t like using the system as he has to go way out of his way to get to class. He tries to find parking on the street near sorority row and mid town, but often gets tickets and has been towed 3 times. I asked him what he would do if he could no longer park near campus. He said he would probably commute via bike to campus, however he did that over the summer and would often have to ride through heavy rain, which is unsafe and inconvenient. 

The final person I interviewed was Joe. Joe works at a restaurant in downtown Gainesville. However, his shift starts just 30 minutes after he has class. Additionally, he currently walked 1.5 miles to class. He stated that if he could drive to campus, he would save a ton of time, as he could keep his work clothes in his car and just drive to work. However, at the moment, he must walk home then scramble to get to work. I asked him if there was another solution he could use. He stated he could ride his bike as well, but that the streets he has to ride on have heavy traffic and a small shoulder, making him feel unsafe. 

Overall, there are not many solutions to the campus parking situation. Students do not have the financial means to ride share everywhere, nor are all the streets and weather conducive for bike riding. Even with the alternatives presented, none seemed like a viable solution and the people I interviewed were not enthusiastic about them.