SGA Ride Van

Starting on Thursday 9/18, the new SGA Safe Ride Van will start for the academic year.

At this time, the shuttle will run only Thursdays-Saturdays from 10pm-2:30am. This excludes college break and extremely inclement weather.

If you are interested in become a driver, please contact the Fleet Office or Public Safety. If we can recruit more drivers, we will be able to run the service more during the week.

The shuttle will be on a loop system on campus. The van will arrive at its assigned stop every 30 minutes. The stops are:

1. 1837/Mandelle Lot, waiting area at the lamp post near the blue light phone
2. Chapin Rd (for the Rockies & Mary Woolley Hall), waiting area at the PVTA bus stop
3. Gateway Rd (for Brigham & the Library), waiting area at the speed limit sign on right
4. Gateway Rd (for Psych & Ed Building), waiting area at the lamp post
5. Dunlap Place (for the Betty Shabazz Center), waiting area at the blue light phone
6. Equestrian Center Drive (for the Equ Ctr/Lot), waiting area at the blue light phone
7. Park St/Ham/McG Drive (for Ham/McGregor), waiting area at the lamp post on left
8. Lower Lake Rd (for the Art Museum area), waiting area at the PVTA bus stop
9. Lower Lake Rd (for the rear of Blanchard), waiting area at the blue light phone
10. Blanchard Circle (for Mead & Wilder), waiting area at the lamp post on the right
11. Faculty Lane (for Dickinson Hall), waiting area at the blue light phone
12. Gorse Lot Front, waiting area at the blue light phone
13. Gorse Lot Rear, waiting area at the blue light phone
14. *Fleet Parking lot, waiting area at the blue light phone

*The SGA Ride Van does not usually go into the Fleet Vehicle parking lot. However, drivers who are returning fleet vehicles between 10pm-2:30am, can be picked up in this lot by calling Public Safety dispatch, who will radio the van driver to go into this lot on the next circuit.

The Safe Ride Van is for safety purposed for MHC students traveling alone & has limited capacity. If you are going to your final destination in a group, please do not ask for a ride.

How come I can't park in a F/S space?

If you are a student, you must be wondering why you cannot park in a Faculty/Staff space when they are empty.

Well, those spaces have to remain available after hours for events on campus or even for your guests. When employees of the campus leave for the evening, there are many other uses for those spaces. This is why students must remain in their designated spaces.

Unregistered guests to campus may park in a Faculty/Staff space from 5pm-7am the next business day or in Torrey Lot until 9am.

Visitor Passes

Now that all the students are settled in with their decals, classes and schedules its time to have visitors on campus.

If you are expecting a visitor to campus, please stop by the parking office to pick up a FREE pass during our business hours. The information we will need to give the pass is the plate #, make and model of the visitors vehicle.

Visitor passes can be made out for a day all the way up to a semester long pass.

If a visitor comes in for a surprise, your visitor may park in a Faculty/Staff space from 5pm-7am the next business day. Or in Torrey Lot from 5pm-9am the next business day. The reason Torrey Lot has an exception, it allows a 1/2 hour for you to obtain a visitor pass from the time the Parking Office open until tickets start to be handed out.

Parking Registration

Don't forget, if you have a vehicle on campus, it needs to be registered with the Parking Office. This goes for students and employees.

We will need your plate number, make & model of your vehicle. If you are a student and your vehicle is registered with out-of-state plates, we will also need additional information (your insurance information and your VIN number from your vehicle).

The Parking Office is located in Central Services. When you are walking from Blanchard Hall, past Ciruti Center, you will walk by our front door. Please stop by during business hours to register your vehicle. We are open 8:30am-5pm for today and tomorrow. Starting next week we will be back to our normal hours of 8:30am-4pm.


After you come through the main door, please come on over to the Parking Window. If one of us is not sitting at the window, please press the button for service and we will be right with you.

We are pretty busy this time of year, but we will always assist you. So, if we happen to be on the phone while you approach the window, please be patient and we will be right with you.


After you finish filling out your paperwork, it will take only seconds (unless the phone rings) to process your paperwork.


Then the data entry starts for us! Unless you applied online, you help us out with inputting the information. Online registration can still be done, but the discount is no longer in effect.

Welcome Back!

Well, a new academic year is upon us! We are ready for your parking needs, bike registrations and questions.

This week, the office will be open from 8:30am-5pm. Starting Monday 9/8 the office hours will return to normal (8:30am-4pm), but we will still be here to assist you.

We are looking forward to a smooth and wonderful school year and we hope you will be too!

Back To School Checklist

Favorite Pillow

Cookies from Mom

Money on One Card

Bed Raisers

Posters for wall

Cozy Rug for feet

and most important.........

Parking Decal

Meet us in Gorse Lot!

Orientation will be here sooner then you know! With that in mind, the Parking Office will extend the hours during that time to help accommodate your needs. The Orientation schedule is-

Located in *Gorse Lot* and look for our tent
Sunday 8/31/2008 from 10am-5pm
Monday 9/1/2008 from 10am-5pm

Located in *Central Services* in the normal office area
Tuesday 9/2/2008 - Friday 9/5/2008 8:30am-5pm

Starting Monday 9/8/2008, the office hours will resume to the normal hours of 8:30am-4pm.

How do I pick up my decal?

If you registered online for your student decal, you can stop by the Parking Office Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4pm to pick up your packet.

The decal will be charged to your general bill. We do *NOT* except any type of payment for your decal in the office.

If you did not register online, but would like to pick up your decal before the made dash season, please do stop by during business hours to fill out your paperwork. Withing minutes, your decal packet will be completed and you will be all set for the academic year.

Do NOT park in a fire lane!

On campus, do not park in a fire lane. A fire lane is a location around a building that allows direct access for emergency vehicles to assist with fires or medical emergencies.

Here on campus, the penalty is a ticket or even a tow if the situation is in need of immediate results.

So, next time you are thinking of pulling in from of a campus building to run in for a minute, think again and park your vehicle in your designated area. It will in the long run save you money and save valuable minutes in an emergency situation.

What if my car is here only for 1/2 a year?

If you are a student and will not have your vehicle for the entire academic year and you don't know what to do about registering it, don't worry! This is what we suggest you do......

If your vehicle will be here in the Fall, but not the Spring-you must purchase a decal at full price. Before you leave at the end of the Fall semester of before 12/31, scrape off your decal and return it to the office. I know its sounds easier then done, but we need as much of the decal scraped off even if its in millions of little pieces. After you turn the decal in, you will receive a refund on your general bill that will reflect 1/2 of what you paid in the fall.

If your vehicle will be here in the Fall & J-Term, but not the Spring-you must still scrape off your decal before 12/31 and follow the same instructions as above. Then for J-Term, we will give you a paper pass for your dashboard to cover J-Term. There will be a fee associated with the temporary pass.

If your vehicle will be here in the Spring (starting in J-Term or Spring Semester)-stop by after the holiday break to apply for the decal. The cost will be half of the full year decal.

Can I park in the Villiage Commons Lot?

The Village Commons Management has asked that students and employees who are not using the shops, please do not park in there parking lot. The spaces that are taken up all day for convince takes away the spaces for the patrons of the Village Commons.

The management team has asked the Parking Office to assist in parking enforcement for their location. If you do park there overnight, you will receive a warning. If you accumulate three or more warnings, your vehicle will be towed at the drivers expense.

All students, faculty and staff are welcome to use their lots while doing business in the Commons and are subject to the same three-hour customer parking limit.

Register Online

Online registration is NOW available!

Students may register online to receive a $15.00 discount.

The regular price of decals if you register in person or wait until after 9/4/2008, will be :
Resident Student $125.00 (with discount $110.00)
Day Student $75.00 (with discount $60.00)
Equestrian Student $100.00 (with discount $85.00)

The information that is need for registration of your vehicle is your plate number, plate state & make, model, color and year of your vehicle.

If you have out-of-state plates on your vehicle, you will have to fill out an additional form, the nonresident driver form, that asks for your insurance information and your VIN number from your vehicle. This form is required by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to be filled out by every student that has out-of-state plates. If the form is not filled out, you may receive an excise tax bill from Massachusetts.

Parking-A Balancing Act

Did you know all the time and planning that goes into making parking spaces? It can become quite a balancing act to create spaces and be eco-friendly. Many communities are concerned about the negative impact on not providing enough parking for business (like our school) since it creates problems for their neighborhoods.

This type of situation does occur during events, banned students park on neighboring streets or park illegally at the village commons. Balancing student, employee and visitor parking is a great task that people take for granted.

So, next time you are mumbling under your breath that there isn't a parking space near your building please keep in mind the college tries to accommodate for vehicles being on campus. There is no simple, correct answer on how much parking is needed. Take advantage of the beautiful work that Facilities Management does for the college's grounds and take a brisk stroll past the wonderful landscape art they do.

Confusing Signs?

Sometimes things are forgotten about around here since everyone is extremely busy. Hey, we are only human! So, if you pull into a parking spot and the sign for that area just seems odd, not making sense or just too confusing, let us know!

At times, the markings on the ground are not changed to match the sign or vise versa right away.

So, if you park your vehicle in the morning and its a regular old sign and when you return to your vehicle and there is now a Handicap Sign and a ticket on your car, just let us know. Since its happened before, it could happen again.

Or you pull into a parking area and the arrow on the sign indicates Faculty/Staff parking on both sides of your parking spot, but there is also a service vehicles sign for the spot next to you which just makes it all confusing, give us a call.

It could be the spaces are in the process of being updated or things have been held up for one reason or another. But, we welcome any feedback about the parking areas.

Feel Free to Stop By!

If you ever have a question regarding parking, please do not hesitate to stop by or call the office. The Parking Office is open 8:30am-4pm, Monday-Friday (excluding college holidays, but we'll inform you when that will be) for your questions, concerns and other parking related issues.

If you would prefer to email the Parking Coordinator, she would love to hear from you. Her name is Charlyn Puza and you can email her at cpuza@mtholyoke.edu

Please Yeild!

Please yield to our fine furry friends here at MHC. I know it may be tough to do so on some days (you know, those mornings when they don't stop yakking away and you were up "studding" late), but the ducks and geese are a wonderful addition to our community. Just look how cute they are!

Register Your Bike!

Don't forget! Register your bicycle before it disappear. I don't mean its going to be stolen by us, just removed to make room for the incoming bikes in for the Fall.

If you are on campus and your bike has a bright orange tag on it, please stop by the office to register your bike. Its *FREE*.

If you are off campus for the summer and your bike was not registered before you left, it may have a tag on it. Call the Parking Office as soon as you can to discuss your options.

Bicycles will be very important in the upcoming months with the cost of fuel skyrocketing, so keep this in mind and don't let your bike disappear.

Where are all the Student parking areas?

Student parking areas can be found on the outskirts of campus. Some are even located near dorms for easy access. So, when you are choosing your dorm room keep that in mind if you need to park near the dorm for your activities.

If you chose to live in Ham/Mac, you can park in the student spaces right across the street or even in the Equestrian Center which is right next door. If you live in Abbey/Buck, you can park in the student spaces in the Gorse Lot. Also, if you chose to live in Pearsons Hall, there are those student spaces right near the dorm.

There are other spaces around campus too. There are a couple rows across from the main gate in Mary Lyon Lot & a row near the Betty Shabazz House.

But keep in mind, students may *NEVER* park in a faculty/staff space, even over the summer. So, keep in mind the proximity of spaces while choosing your dorm and schedule!