Parking twice as close to campus and splitting the cost are just some reasons students use the Sacramento State carpool program — that is if they can find someone to carpool with and a space.

Rachel Tarro and Kris Daveluy, both graduate students of speech pathology, carpool to school.

“It’s a good system, we’ve had a lot of luck with it,” Tarro said. “We always manage to get a space even though the carpool spaces are full everyday.”

Carpool parking has been at Sac State for several years and has a total of 83 student carpool spaces and 5 faculty and staff spaces.

University Transportation and Parking Services offers special parking permits to students who share a ride to campus everyday.

UTAPS defines a carpool as a vehicle consisting of two or more persons, who must arrive together.

Student carpool permits can be obtained by an application process through the UTAPS office in Folley Hall and purchased at the Student Financial Service Center.

After qualifying, students can exchange their regular parking permit for a carpool permit at no extra cost or purchase the pass for the student fee of $108.

A student can receive a citation if they park in carpool spaces without a carpool permit or if they do not qualify as an official carpool.

“There is usually someone in a car parked around here watching the spaces,” Tarro said. “The one time I parked here alone, when Kris was sick, I got a ticket.”

Tarro and Daveluy said they agree that one main challenge is finding someone to carpool with.

Sac State junior Dave Martin said he doesn’t use carpool parking for that reason.

“It’s worthless, carpool parking is a waste, especially because students’ schedules are never in sync,” Martin said.

According to UTAPS, Sac State uses the website for Sacramento Area Council of Government for carpool and vanpool matching for students is available through a link on the UTAPS website.

Tarro and Daveluy said that it is worth the closer parking spaces.Students with carpool permits can park in any of the carpool spaces identified with a three headed figure painted on parking spaces. The spaces are located in Lot 2 and Parking Structure 1.

Tarro said it is a stress relief to arrive on campus at 8 a.m. and not have to worry about big waits.

“When the spaces are available, we just drive up to the carpool area where it is really quiet and park, it’s so nice,” Tarro said. “I just wish there could be more spaces, they have already removed some in Lot 2, especially in the parking structures. We’ve never been able to get a space there.”

Nancy Fox, transportation and parking manager for UTAPS, said there used to be more carpool spaces available for students. They had to eliminate carpool spaces in Lot 2 in order to accommodate for more dorm parking.

Fox said the carpool program is good because it reduces the number of single occupant vehicles coming to campus and reduces the number of single occupant vehicles in the Sacramento region.

To find out more on how to carpool go to www.csus.edu/utaps.