By, Alexandra Stetz

Complaints about the parking at Buffalo State College have been heard for decades, but what happens when you walk the mile back to your car only to find that it's no longer there? Sure it could have been stolen, but chances are it has been towed.

Most students will receive tickets for parking in the wrong lot or not having a parking pass. But what many students don't know is that once those tickets start to pile up they run the risk of getting their car towed.

Parking tickets at BSC are generally $15, with the exception of parking in a handicap spot without a sticker which is $50. After 30 days the ticket doubles to a fee of $30. Once a student has three tickets that have each doubled to $30, BSC can technically have that student's car towed, according to the traffic office . If a student has $200 or more in parking tickets their car can be towed immediately.

Some campus police cars are equipped with computer systems that let the officer run the license plate to check for unpaid tickets and violations, but all officers radio in to the station for an official check on the car before towing.

This doesn't mean that the officers are calling in every car they ticket, just the persistent violators, whom they know they have given a ticket to before.

Students are not notified that their car has been towed. A student will find out once they go to the campus police station after having walked to their car and found it to be missing.

Once a student's car has been towed there is no alternate transportation offered. Students could take the bus, but they usually wait for a friend or relative to come and get them, according to a campus police officer. After they wait for six hours for a friend to pick them up, it's not the cost of the ordeal that sticks in their head, it's being left with out a ride, the officer said.

BSC uses “ Frank Brown's Towing ”, located in Kenmore , about 15 minutes by car from BSC, to tow cars off campus. For a student to get their car back once it has been towed, they must first pay off the parking tickets in order to get an impound release form from the campus police station. Then the student pays the towing company for the tow and the cost of holding the car, rates that are determined and subject to change by the towing company, after that the student can have his or her car back.

Campus police also “ mini-tow ” cars, from one spot on campus to the “G-lot,” located off of Rockwell Road , for snow removal. Because there are signs posted on Rockwell Road that state that there is no parking from 1a.m. to 6 a.m. from November1 through April 1, the student will receive a ticket on their car, but it will not be towed off campus unless the student has outstanding tickets as mentioned above.

The campus police don't enjoy towing cars and they try to give warning to those students in danger of having their car towed by writing just that on the ticket, according to an officer.

Alexandra Stetz can be reached at AllexThGr81@cs.com

http://www.buffalostate.edu/permits.xml

http://www.buffalostate.edu/lots.xml

http://www.buffalostate.edu/pdf/campusmap.pdf

http://www.buffalostate.edu/offices/police/

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