University of Bergen wasting valuable parking spaces

For over a year now, parking spaces for the Univeristy of Bergen stands empty.

The site of the former student parking. For over a year, this
site has remained empty for no reason!!

Until the begining of 2011, students were assigned their own parking spaces at the two parking lots belonging to the University of Bergen.

The total capacity was around 30 cars, which was not much to begin with, but all of a sudden, one of the parking spaces located adjacent to the university building was closed down for no apparent reason. People thought maybe the university plans to build something there, even though the space was just enough for about 16 cars... The sign indicating "student parking" has been replaced by a "parking forbidden" sign threatning the car drivers that their vehicle will be towed away if they parked there.

Now, over a year has elapsed, and the place is still empty!! All there is are just some tiles dumped on the ground...that's it! This is outrageous, since there was not enough parking spaces to begin with, and if anything, since the number of students at the university are increasing, so should the parking capacity.

The space provided parking for 4 or 5 cars. Now, it is just closed
down with chain and lock. What is the matter with these people?

Now look at the other side of the same parking lot. A space which provided additional parking for students and staff is also closed down for no reason whatsoever. Over here, the University went as far as to place concrete blocks connected with chains and locks to stop people from parking there.

Since the space is not being used for anything, what is the problem with people parking there?

In the background of the picture on the right, you will see another parking lot. This lot normally holds around 40 cars, but because of some construction work, the capacity has been reduced by about 1/4. The competition for a spot in one of these parking lots is fierce. Normally, by 8am on a weekday, all the spots are already taken. You would normally have to wait until around 1pm to find a spot.



If people park in an "empty space", then
they get one of these. Click on the image
to enlarge!

So in total, the university is forcing 30 cars (more actually, since not all the cars are parked the entire day) every day to park at a paying parking spot. It is just a waste of money for the students and staff. What is the university directors thinking?? Wasting valuable parking space in the city centre...

The picture on the right, I discovered under the windscreen wiper of one of the cars parked in the parking lot (not my car). As it happens, the university is not utilising all the spaces in the parking lot either, and anybody who (righteously) tries to park there now gets a 500 NOK (approx. US$90) fine. Since when did the university become a parking company!? Last time I checked, the university is a place which offers a place of higher education, not a place where people get fined for parking in a spot that was rightfully theirs until a year ago.

Take note on the photo; on the place where it says "bilmerke" (car make, in Norwegian), the warden wrote "Polo"! What jackass!! The make of the car is Volkswagen. The model of the car is Polo. It does not matter to this poor owner of the car though...

I wonder if this is just a symbolic thing, or is there actually a legal obligation to pay the fine?

Update 4th October 2012

Now, the spaces have been further reduced by about 8 cars because of some ridiculous construction work that nobody has asked for. On top of that, the university didn't bother to replace those lost spaces! What are they thinking? At least remove the chain & locks from the parking space in the second picture, at the same time making good use of the parking spaces shown in the pictures on the top! It's not like its going to hurt anybody...

Update 16th November 2012
The space has been further reduced! Actually, it hasn't, but....around 8 spaces has been converted into charging areas for electric cars. Now, conventional cars are not allowed to park in those places, only cars with licence plates starting with "EL" (indicates that the car is electric). I have seen cars from Poland with licence plates starting with "EL" (not electric, though). If they just have a faux charging cable sticking out, maybe they can park there without a fine?? Hmmm.....
Oh yes, the chains& locks have not been removed yet. It may not be sticks & stones, but Rihanna could sure sing us a song!