Now that students have moved out of their shared houses for the summer, locals on one street in Cathays can finally use their cars freely again. Parking on Pentyrch Street in Cardiff during the academic year is a "nightmare," according to residents, with the street packed with cars.
It's impossible to say how many of these belong to students - but now that the university summer break has begun, there are only a handful of cars parked on a usually-packed segment of the street. Beryl Bridle has lived on Pentyrch Street for 55 years. She said: "Parking is a nightmare. It's gotten a lot worse in the 55 years I've lived here.
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"It used to be all families, but now it's all students. I've had to park up the other end and carry my shopping up the road. Students are a pain in the neck."
Mrs Bridle said she was concerned about students who leave their cars on the road for months without driving them. But there are also some students for whom this is a huge source of frustration.
Joy Danann is a nursing student living in Cathays, in an eight-bed HMO with seven other student nurses. She said: "We all need cars for when we are on unpaid placement. Cardiff University covers all of south Wales, so some places are just not accessible via public transport.
"Our house only allows us two parking permits and one visitor, so you can imagine the stress after a busy 12.5 hour shift and the drive home, coming back to Cathays and spending more time just trying to find a parking space. It really is such a downer, especially as there are many students who could just rely on public transport to go home and who don't even use cars during term time. Parking is stunning once all the students have gone home!"
The relationship between students and locals in Cathays has been frayed for a while, with piles of rubbish regularly left behind after students move out. One WalesOnline commenter said: "Council to blame. They encourage students to the city as they make millions off them.
"They know each year there is this problem but they stand there with their hands in their pockets doing nothing. Why aren't the refuse collectors repeatedly running around these streets for this one week?"
But John Sheriff - a landlord who owns a property on Pentyrch Street - said the council does a "good job" disposing of the rubbish quickly - and one resident, who didn't want to be named, said there's "no problem at all" with students in the area, except for the parking issues.
The council is working on solutions to the parking issue - with Cathays set to change to a zonal parking system which will allow residents to park on neighbouring streets in the same colour-coded zone. But for much of Cathays, it will be just as hard to find a space on the next street over.
Mrs Thomas, a resident in the area, said: "Even though we're environmentally friendly and use public transport, sometimes we cancel plans because we can't find any parking when we get back. It's changed our way of living, but in the wrong way.
"At this time of year [once students have left] it's completely different. For example, if we need to go to the doctor, to the vet, we know that we could find parking. It's difficult for people who work shifts. My husband does, and needs to drive for work.
"It's great to have the university and for Cardiff University to be in the top 100 in the UK. It makes Cardiff an appealing place to international students, which brings diversity - but the balance of students and families in Cathays is wrong."
Cathays councillor Sarah Merry said: "I totally understand the frustration of people who are struggling to park – particularly if they are elderly, disabled or have children. Unfortunately the issues around parking are not unique to Cathays.
"You only have to look at the problems with parking in other central parts of the city – such as Riverside – with no off road parking. Car ownership has increased but our streets were never designed with parking in mind.
"Many of our houses have been converted to HMOs and of course when students return home at the summer parking problems ease – it doesn’t mean that if they were family homes there wouldn’t be parking problems. It is just that half of the houses in a street may be empty.
"We are waiting to find out what the impact is of the parking changes when they are fully installed. Those houses with more than two cars will know that there will be nowhere to park within the zones as all the parking will be regulated – either residents only, timed parking unless you have a residents permit, or paid.
"We need people to be less dependent on cars for travel and a resulting drop in the number of cars. This is why the council is promoting cycle transport and schemes like Nextbike and car club." To get more stories from Cardiff straight to your inbox, subscribe to our daily newsletter here.
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