Official RAC Parking Issues Thread
- Thread starter Tango Two
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And people are calling for a new arena in downtown New Brunswick. Could you imagine getting in and out of a parking deck?
The VIP section is for people with floor seats and the new 118 seats (plus a couple extra spots for others like if the Governor or Senator attends). If there are no shows, then there will be empty spots.
I'm sure you mean Sutton Lane and not Stelton. And what they did today is what they should have done starting years ago to eliminate traffic going in both directions on Hospital road. You can't have people making a left out of Yellow holding up traffic behind them while trying to cross into the other lane. Just insane.
I think it was still a mess. I pulled into the Green lot and there was one person scanning passes. After he scanned my pass, it took 10 seconds for the machine to indicate the pass was good.
When the RAC is sold out for a 7 pm game, figuring 3000-4000 cars entering between 6:00 and 6:45, they need to scan at least 65 cars per minute. But that assumes that the cars arrive in a steady stream. In reality 2/3 of the cars will arrive in the last 20 minutes. So they really need the capacity to process 120 cars per minute.
If it takes 10 seconds per car to scan, then they need 20 people scanning parking passes.
I thought I heard 7 years too... how on earth does that qualify as a long time season ticket holder? I've been going since 2002 and know there are others like yourself who have (more than) double my "years of service".
There cannot possibly be that many people with floor seats and 118. I was there an hour before tipoff and that VIP section looked almost full to me. I don’t why I asked for Green. Next year I’ll probably just get yellow. A little bit shorter walk is not worth being in green.
I assume many would take the train, assuming the arena is close to the station. Not sure how they'd do parking passes in a public parking lot, though - although I assume lots of urban schools have figured that out. There's also a ton of "free" parking in NB if you know where to find it.
Another fan in my area said that you have to put your name in, in order to be honored. In other words if you don’t do it, you don’t get honored.
They have my years wrong for both sports anyway. I am not going to ask for it, but have hit the 42 and 43 year mark for the two sports, while their numbers for my account are in the mid 30’s
They should just see your longevity and come to the fans themselves. Should not have to ask
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65 cars a minute? 120 cars a minute? This is Rutgers we are talking about. They will be lucky if they can do 15-20 cars in a minute.
Best of Luck,
Groz
It was literally half of the green lot today. That's absurd. Who the hell is parking in the APC deck? Shouldn't there be a lot more spots?
Unless you live on the Northeast Corridor, no one is going to take the train. How do you take the train from Somerville, East Brunswick, Hillsborough, Morristown, or Manalapan?
I just did a Google Maps directions from my house to the NB Train Station using public transit for the game Wednesday night at 8pm.
Would have to take a bus to Manhattan at 5:32pm, get on the PATH at the WTC to Newark Penn Station to pick up the Northeast Corridor train to NB.
I'd arrive at 7:48. Not bad. Only 2 hrs 16 min. Or I could drive to the RAC in 40 minutes.
A rep told me a day ago that the green vip is a perk for those who have seats in the 100’s
They may have to pay extra, that I do not know. He also said that you can’t just pay extra and get a vip spot, you have to have the premier seat
He also said that if the game is starting and
The other green spots are gone ,you can ask the attendant if you can just go ahead and park there if there are a lot of the vip still open
Also there are the correct number of vip parking spots to go with the 100 section and that the vip parking would be filled for the bigger games
It’s a train line, not a subway, controlled by Amtrak. As others above have noted, does nothing for east, west or shore fans. 287 and 18 are already torture. Can’t imagine another 5,000 plus cars at rush hour in downtown New Brunswick.
40 minutes from SI? You must be deep into SI, since it's only 10-15 minutes to the RAC from Metuchen and only 10 minutes from Metuchen to SW SI.
I have a seat in the 100's and I have a Green Pass not a VIP spot. The number of "Premier Seats" if they are talking about seats on the Floor or in 118 are minimal. They are obviously using it for overflow handicapped too but how did they go to doubling the VIP lot after 1 game? It's not a big deal now but I can see it being a mess for some weeknight sellout against a Big Ten team. They cordoned off a lot less last year and for the Michigan game I arrived later than I usually do (thanks to ridiculous traffic pattern and coming from work) and they told me Green was full and they had no spots for me. I have no faith that they've figured out anything or know what they're talking about. I should just park in Yellow and quit complaining.
I Agee that the explanation did not make total sense. I was pissed when I called and told the rep I might just park in one of the spots anyway and what would they then do?
I understand that our parking situation is pretty poor right now, but seriously guys....try parking at UNC, Maryland, Syracuse or Michigan State...just to name a few. There is truly no joy in those experiences!
Sure those are historically better programs, but you wanna know about the definition of the word “hassle”, go check those places out. By comparison, we’ve got it pretty good fellas!
Sure those are historically better programs, but you wanna know about the definition of the word “hassle”, go check those places out. By comparison, we’ve got it pretty good fellas!
Anyone have issues before the Niagara game?
It seemed like too long of a line to get in on the Hospital Rd. side. Had to go in the other way which had its own issues.
I observed the new ticket scanning procedure to take an awful long time.. I can't imagine how it'll be when the better opponents arrive. I know..... some will say come earlier, but that wouldn't solve the ineptitude of the parking situation...
It seemed like too long of a line to get in on the Hospital Rd. side. Had to go in the other way which had its own issues.
I observed the new ticket scanning procedure to take an awful long time.. I can't imagine how it'll be when the better opponents arrive. I know..... some will say come earlier, but that wouldn't solve the ineptitude of the parking situation...
Eliminating student parking on game days is a ridiculous suggestion. Rutgers is after all a University, not just a basketball team. Plus I do not think students park in the Green lot since I never see them exiting. The problem last Thursday was the number of students leaving the lot at the same time basketball patrons were entering.
To fix this, on days when school is in session, they should always use the traffic pattern that they say they will use for high attendance games. Hospital Road should be one way from Avenue E toward Sutton with the right lane for the green lot and the left for yellow lot. Students exiting yellow should be steered towards the exits closest to Sutton to allow for cars to enter the Yellow from the entrances furthest from Sutton. Rockefeller should be one way from Sutton and be for yellow only (it has been a real sh*t show getting into Green from Rockefeller.
The key here is that there needs to be a traffic officer at the Sutton - Hospital interchange to keep things moving smoothly.
I usually enter the campus from Metlars or Rt 18 I did not like this new traffic pattern when they first used it but the problem was not knowing when it would be used. I don't have that big of an issue swinging around to Ave E and entering that way.
As far as the VIP section of the Green lot goes, do what I do. If I am arriving near game time when the Green is filled up, I simply get out of my car, move the cones and park in the VIP section.
I do find myself getting to the games earlier than in the past to try and avoid the kind of 45 minute delays described here, That happened to me at the SHU game 2 years ago.
The eliminate student parking in athletic lots on football gamedays (even on Thursday or Friday gamedays).
With the new parking deck, there is more than ample space on Livingston Campus for student parking without using the Green and Yellow lots.
The lots on Bush, Scarlet & White are commuter student lots, while the lots on Livingston Campus are residents student lots & many of the spots in the Green & Yellow lots are in fact cars that belong to students.
How often do we have Thursdsy/Friday football games during the school year? Now basically never. We have basketball games every week. No need to disrupt student parking when there are other solutions.
There are complaints from people with Green passes that the Green lot is full when they get there and they are forced to park in Yellow. There are a couple reasons that the Green lot would be full:
- Rutgers sold more Green lot passes than there are spaces in the Green lot. This is unlikely, since the capacity of the lot is known and they know how many passes they sell.
- People without Green lot passes are forging passes or otherwise sneaking into the lot. This is unlikely, and even if it happened, it would represent a very small number of cars.
- Students are parking in the Green lot and using a large portion of the spaces. This is probable. When I have shown up to games more than an hour before tip-off, the Green lot is often 50% full. When I've asked about that, I've been told that is because students are parking there.
You say there are other solutions to the Green lot going over capacity. What are those solutions?
I actually was referring to traffic flow when I said there were solutions, which I outlined in my previous post, but I'll bite:
- I have been parking in Green the past 3 or 4 seasons, I never remember seeing students leaving the lot as I arrive while I see them leaving yellow every weeknight game. I don't know for sure but maybe students are not allowed to park in the green lot. I do not believe that students are creating the overflow problem. I understand you have been told that they do but I have never seen someone leaving the Green lot in the run up before the games so I am not convinced this happens.
- In the past it was easy to park in Green using an expired pass as the attendants never checked the pass as you entered. Once the bugs are fixed with the scanning system this will no longer be possible. An alternative would be if they tore the stub off the pass and collected then like they do with football. However scanning should allow for transfer which is a good thing, again, once the bugs are worked out.
- Could Rutgers be using the airline model and be overselling the lot? Maybe but I doubt they will ever admit it.
Which leaves me to what I think the problem is - the VIP section. Every space outside of the VIP cones could be filled and you will see dozens if not more open spaces in the VIP section. My theory is that the athletic department simply sets aside way too many vip spaces and the attendants are reluctant to open these spaces up to Green pass holders until just before game time.
Many, many of the cars in the Green lot are students cars, drive past there any day that there is not a game & the lot is always at least half full & these are students that live in the dorms on Livingston, not commuter students for the most part.
Got it. I guess the factthat these are residents of the Livingstone dorms is why I don't see them leaving the lot around game time. Maybe th e yellow lot is where the students who live off campus park.
