Now that I am a third-year, I have been able to bring my car to school but trust me, it is not all that great. Let’s be real, having a car in SLO sounds great until you factor in the nightmare parking, the strict parking enforcers, expensive gas prices and roommates and friends who don’t have a car and need rides. If these factors get too overwhelming, you can still have so much fun in SLO without a car, and here is how you can live your best Mustang life away from old-reliable.Â
The first thing I should mention is that every aspect of parking, no matter if you are parking on campus, downtown, out at the beach or even at your off-campus apartment or house, you are going to have trouble of sorts. Something very interesting about SLO is that they have very strict parking regulations no matter where you are, and let me say that the amount of parking tickets I have gotten for getting back to my car a few minutes after my time expires is ridiculous.Â
Another aspect of having a car that nobody really talks about is how much money you will spend on gas. Gas prices in California are notorious for being extremely high, but the Central Coast and Central Valley have prices on the higher end of the spectrum because they are a main thoroughfares for getting to either Southern California or Northern California. Some people may be lucky enough to have someone helping them pay for gas, but I have unfortunately not had that luxury, so I watch my money go down and down and down and down.
A major contributor to how much you spend on gas also depends on whether or not your roommates and friends have cars too, because you are either going to end up being the person driving everyone everywhere, or the person who is too nice to say no and will let everyone else use their car. Real friends and courteous roommates will give you gas money but that can be a really awkward thing to request if they don’t initially offer, especially if this is a frequent occurrence. A little trick I have learned is the best way to ask someone for gas money without making it awkward is to just say, “Hey, since we’re all going to the same place maybe we could each chip in a few dollars for gas?” ESPECIALLY if you are the one to drive or have your car driven every time.
Now for the fun part, how you can avoid being the awkward roommate or friend who always needs a ride!
- Invest in a Bike
SLO is a very bike-able city as it has many protected bike paths and specific bike stoplights at intersections which all makes me feel very safe. This way, you don’t have to worry about driving to class and parking on campus because there is a never ending amount of bike racks to lock up your bike on campus. I currently live a 15-minute bike ride from campus and it is the best thing ever because I am getting exercise, contributing to saving the environment and not risking getting a parking ticket. If I could recommend anything to have in SLO, it would be a bike, hands down.
- Get Your Walking Shoes On!
Downtown is only a 10-15 minute walk from the dorms and can be a great way to get out and do something even if you just go walk to a coffee shop or the farmer’s market. There is so much to do downtown and you can easily walk everywhere you need to go both from campus and once you are there.
- Use Public Transportation
While this may seem daunting, the public transportation around SLO is very simple to navigate, not to mention free with your Cal Poly ID. You can use the SLO Transit app on your phone that tells you the departure and arrival times of every bus and every route that goes around SLO. The only thing that is annoying is that if you are trying to go grocery shopping around Los Osos Valley Road, you will have to transfer buses and because it is so far from the main downtown bus stop you may be waiting for a long time. That shouldn’t stop you though because the buses are always clean, comfy, and filled with interesting people to talk to.
- Familiarize Yourself With Rideshare Opportunities Around Town/Campus.
SLO tends to have relatively affordable Uber and Lyft prices, but if you are missing the feeling of the driver’s seat, Zip Car is also an option. Zip Car allows you to rent a car from as little as an hour and as long as 14 days for a very affordable rate. Cal Poly has multiple Zip Cars around campus that give you opportunities to go to the beach on the weekend, take a day trip to surrounding cities or even just re-learn how to drive (I know I kind of forgot after time away from my car). My roommates and friends would use Zip Car frequently our first year, and the yearly membership is very affordable and allows you to cancel at any time!Â
- Learn to be Content With What is Right in Front of You!
This can be hard to do especially since living on campus typically means you don’t have a car and all you come to know is campus. That being said, campus can be hard to enjoy when you don’t have class because that seems like the only thing it has to offer, but don’t forget, downtown is only a 10-15 minute walk from the dorms. Not only that, there are so many opportunities for hiking super close to campus as well as the recreation center pool, gym, and sports fields that are open to everyone on campus. I wish I did this more, and took advantage of campus when I was living there, but hopefully I can motivate you to love on-campus living and to explore everything it has to offer, because there is so much more to it than class.