Stop giving commuter pass holders parking tickets when the commuter lots are full
I have classes at 11 am on Mondays and Wednesdays. These are peak hours for parking, and lately when I've arrived on campus all of the commuter lots are full, including Lots A, F, FF, J, Q, and the spots available around sororities and fraternities. I tend to arrive about 20 minutes before classes start, and I and many other students must drive around to all of these lots, waiting for spots to open up. In some cases, no spots are available, so lately many students have been parking outside marked spaces in Q lot, without impeding the flow of traffic. I have seen many cars in unmarked spots with tickets on them. It's clear students wouldn't park in an unmarked spot unless they had to, and it is also clear that Parking Services sold more commuter passes than there are spots available.
When I emailed Parking Services with this concern, I was told that I should park in Lot K. If you look at the parking map, this is the lot located next to the Athletics complex. Clearly this is meant to be parking for the complex, as the walk to academic buildings on campus would be upwards of 15 minutes. In order to drive around to all closer commuter lots to ensure there are no spaces available, drive over to Lot K, and then walk to campus, students would have to arrive about an hour early for any given class.
I have also noticed a general increase in the number of parking tickets issued. As the size of the student body has increased, it would seem that Parking Services has decided to profit by overloading commuter lots and more frequently patrolling these lots, punishing those commuters who arrive at peak parking hours. Today I saw that they now have a designated employee who issues citations (rather than students receiving work study credit), and have a designated vehicle for this employee. It would seem that Parking Services no longer has the best interest of students in mind.
I propose that Parking Services scales back on issuing tickets in commuter lots during peak hours. I have heard from friends that those students who used to issue citations were more understanding because they could put themselves in the commuter's shoes. It would be fantastic if Parking Services could return to this system of empathy, rather than profiting from an overloaded system that has been managed reactively, rather than proactively, as the student body size increases.
-
Anonymous commented
And not to mention that we pay 2 people a full salary to drive a freaking smart car all day