Coming soon to College of the Canyons?

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

I mocked the idea of a train system for COC-Valencia’s 20,000+ students earlier this year, and the video below doesn’t really change my mind, but it’s worth a view anyway:

From the YouTube description:

Concept includes an elevated transit skyway for tram and bike travel around the COC Santa Clarita campus, photovoltaic canopies for combating parking lot heat islands, and an innovative community bike system that will facilitate student movement with minimal carbon output.

Entry won first place in the LACCD Buildable Visions competition and was honored at the 2010 Sustainability in Higher Education conference in Los Angeles.

I love the idea of trains, but if we’re going to build them, they ought to be designed to get us from point A to point B, not to just get us around Point A, ala the Disneyland Monorail system. For that we have something even simpler and cheap: our legs!

Still though, the concept of separating pedestrian and bicycle traffic from COC’s notorious parking lots is attractive and I like the idea of solar powered canopies to generate electricity and break up the heat absorption of COC’s massive parking lots. Many studies (and Energy Secretary Steven Chu) have pointed out that our streets, parking lots and roofs are a major contributor to global warming. Reducing the amount of sunlight absorbed by such surfaces (either by painting them a reflective color or using materials that are more reflective) could save billions of tons in CO2 emissions.

It’s neat to see some talented COC students thinking about (and winning awards for) energy, climate change and transportation issues.

Who wants to bet Valencia Summit residents would complain about a COC tram system?

Comments (4)

Valencia MotherAugust 3, 2010 at 4:31 pm

I have been taking a few classes at COC for 2.5 years. I am still amazed at all of the complaints about parking at COC. Yes, weeks 1-3 are with packed lots – as are most college parking lots – while everyone’s getting settled in. But you can still park- however you actually need to walk a bit – it’s no big deal! It’s not ever snowing and 25 degrees! And it’s not a huge campus! My goodness, people are lazy! I am always able to park my car – every single day. The whiners all want to park right up front. I marvel how many kids circle the lot forever and are late to class for sure! Use those free legs!

DamageincAugust 3, 2010 at 4:50 pm

From 8-11am parking is very difficult to come by regardless of the distance. Parking was the number one motivator for me taking 8am classed and being there early. A parking garage is really needed but it will probably not happen anytime soon.

WalkerAugust 4, 2010 at 10:11 am

Right. I had an 8:20 class last year, thinking I could get my kids to school at 7:30 and be to COC by 7:45-50. Even then I had a hard time finding (legal) parking in time for class during the first few weeks of school. The first day, when construction was still taking up a majority of the U-Center lot, I (and many others) opted for illegal parking and crossed fingers on that first day because parking was a mess and a no-show or late arrival will almost certainly get you dropped with class availability as tight as it is. Oh, and all the crazy teenager drivers backing in to eachother in the first few days of school. Along with an 18+ movie theater in the SCV, I’d be willing to pay extra and walk from the outskirts of the lot if they’d implement a 25+ parking lot at COC lol

SFC PerezAugust 3, 2010 at 9:39 pm

I do not understand why there is such a resistance towards parking garages. I have seen communities that do a tier level design and implement an ancient technique by off setting each level and putting a planting garden of trees and flowers in that space. It makes for a much more “green” experience and is more pleasing to the view. The reality is people are still going to park somewhere so why not make it more controllable and possibly charge a minimal fee to force carpooling and defray costs somewhere else.

Valencia MotherAugust 3, 2010 at 4:31 pm
I have been taking a few classes at COC for 2.5 years. I am still amazed at all of the complaints about parking at COC. Yes, weeks 1-3 are with packed lots – as are most college parking lots – while everyone’s getting settled in. But you can still park- however you actually need to walk a bit – it’s no big deal! It’s not ever snowing and 25 degrees! And it’s not a huge campus! My goodness, people are lazy! I am always able to park my car – every single day. The whiners all want to park right up front. I marvel how many kids circle the lot forever and are late to class for sure! Use those free legs!
DamageincAugust 3, 2010 at 4:50 pm
From 8-11am parking is very difficult to come by regardless of the distance. Parking was the number one motivator for me taking 8am classed and being there early. A parking garage is really needed but it will probably not happen anytime soon.
WalkerAugust 4, 2010 at 10:11 am
Right. I had an 8:20 class last year, thinking I could get my kids to school at 7:30 and be to COC by 7:45-50. Even then I had a hard time finding (legal) parking in time for class during the first few weeks of school. The first day, when construction was still taking up a majority of the U-Center lot, I (and many others) opted for illegal parking and crossed fingers on that first day because parking was a mess and a no-show or late arrival will almost certainly get you dropped with class availability as tight as it is. Oh, and all the crazy teenager drivers backing in to eachother in the first few days of school. Along with an 18+ movie theater in the SCV, I’d be willing to pay extra and walk from the outskirts of the lot if they’d implement a 25+ parking lot at COC lol
SFC PerezAugust 3, 2010 at 9:39 pm
I do not understand why there is such a resistance towards parking garages. I have seen communities that do a tier level design and implement an ancient technique by off setting each level and putting a planting garden of trees and flowers in that space. It makes for a much more “green” experience and is more pleasing to the view. The reality is people are still going to park somewhere so why not make it more controllable and possibly charge a minimal fee to force carpooling and defray costs somewhere else.