Unless motorists take advantage of the Park-and-Ride system, cars will continue to clutter downtown State College streets.

Since the program began three months ago, the participation rate has remained low. Currently only 37 subscribers are using the 140-space lot.

Local residents must support this big-city solution to the parking problem, to help State College maintain its small-town atmosphere. Streets crowded with cars hardly make for an attractive community.

Park and Ride is a partnership between the Centre Area Transportation Authority and the University to combat the parking problem. For $20 a month, subscribers receive a parking space near Beaver Stadium and a pass to ride the downtown loop.

CATA provided funding for the loop, while the University donated land for the parking lot.

The Park-and-Ride system is a creative solution to State College's parking problem that can serve as a model for future programs designed to help parking if enough people support it.

The environmental and monetary results are worth the seeming inconvenience of parking a little farther away and riding the loop into town. Not only does Park and Ride save space, it also allows more shoppers to park, thereby increasing downtown revenue.

If residents start utilizing the system, downtown employees can free up metered parking spaces for shoppers and create a more pleasant, less aggravating atmosphere downtown.

Similar programs have alleviated parking problems in other communities and it can work here too. As the borough continues to grow it will become necessary to combat increasingly complex problems like parking in more creative ways.

For this reason, businesses should encourage their employees to use the system.

While the Park and Ride may not seem any more convenient to many residents than the present parking situation, it benefits the community more.

The Park-and-Ride system is a convenient and economic solution to the parking problem and deserves the support of the community.