Parking Problems at Universities

Introduction . Big universities are like small cities . They have athletic facilities , concert halls , housing , hospitals , libraries museums , offices , restaurants , stores , theaters , and , of course parking . Big universities also have big transportation problems ‘ [1] Universities have problems with parking , in part , for the same reason they have problems finding presidents . They have diffuse and demanding constituencies–faculty , students , staff , alumni and surrounding communities–that all need and expect different things . Students want plenty of parking near dorms . Faculty members want the budget to go toward books and buildings rather than 10 million parking structures [banner_entry_middle]

br Staff members want parking to be safer and less expensive . Alumni often simply want to find it . Local residents want to make the cars–and the resulting traffic and congestion–disappear . And all would appreciate it if parking spaces weren ‘t moved every week to accommodate campus construction

Colleges and universities are somewhat unique in their access requirements , since they are made out of different schools , each having its own specific needs to secure its assets . This poses many challenges in the process of designing a parking and access control system for them . Designing an efficient and cost effective automated access and parking system for university campuses goes a long way in projecting an image of a safe and secure environment . Safety and security is the second most important question in the mind of a parent while selecting a University . The smallest breach makes headlines and causes a lot of grief all around . Good security offers peace of mind to the students as well as parents

Approaches to university parking . There are two main approaches to university campus parking policies – political and economic [2-3] . The political approach relies on administrative rules to allocate parking while the economic approach relies on flexible prices . Most universities rely mainly on rules to manage campus parking

Allocation . Most parking spots are allocated administratively based on the job classification of the employee . For example at most universities there is a dedicated prime spot for audio-visual support , maintenance and environmental health and safety personal . The rationale for this is that the job function of these individual is essential to the teaching and research mission of the university and therefore no barrier to the performance of their function can be tolerated . Usually , these spots remain empty , except for a few occasions , usually at the beginning of the semester when new course instructors , and new course materials are being tried out

Parking spots not dedicated to critical personnel are allocated based on a feudal hierarchy . UCLA , for example , has 175 different types of parking permits , carefully graded according to the status of each administrator , faculty member , staff member , or student [4] . Major donors receive campus parking permits based on the size of their donations . Parking privileges are cumulative , which means that holders of higher-ranking permits can park in the spaces reserved for their own rank and in the spaces available to all permits of a lower rank

Restrictions . Many universities struggle with effective solutions to parking [5] . The obvious… [banner_entry_footer]