 "Photo: Photo courtesy of UNC Charlotte")
There are 8,033 parking spots available on campus for resident and commuting students, but Parking Services sold 11,984 parking permits this semester. Parking Services said they have to over-sell permits to keep the lots from being empty, but parking services has sold 3,951 more permits than available spots.
A July 2007 study predicts that the university’s demand for parking will increase to 11,344 with a deficit of 625 parking spots in 2010, a goal Parking Services looks to fall short of. With 11,984 permits sold this year alone, more than 600 permits have been sold above next years predicted demand. It appears Parking Services may have sold spaces it does not have.
Many students are still unhappy with the service they receive for their $310 permit. Parking Services predicts a decrease in their fund balance of $1.8 million, but overselling may not be the way to go. Many students say that it is harder this year than previous years to find a parking spot, but there were 2,770 more permits sold last year than this year. That means that last year Parking Services sold 6,721 more spaces than were available on campus, overselling permits by 85 percent.
Other Universities facing this problem, such as the University of Idaho, have successfully appealed for a clause to be added in the university parking ordinance to place a limit on the number of parking spaces that may be oversold.
Resident parking permits have decreased by 875 and commuting permits have decreased by 1,896. This year has had the lowest amount of permits sold than any of the past six years.
Parking Services tries to plan for the amount of students that will be coming to UNC Charlotte, but this year the enrollment for commuting students was higher than expected by about 400-500 students.
At different times of the day parking services goes around campus counting empty parking spaces. In the commuter lots there are only 3 percent of the spots empty at 10 a.m. and 4 percent empty at noon. In the resident lots 10 percent of the spots are empty at 10 a.m. and 11 percent empty at noon. The percentage in the lots available to both commuters and residents is much higher throughout the day, 29 percent are empty at 10 a.m. and 22 percents are empty at noon.
“Parking services prefers to have at least 10 percent of the parking spots empty at all times,” said Gary Caton, director of Parking and Transportation Services.
There are 1,540 resident parking spots, 3,091 commuter parking spots, and 3,402 parking spots available to both commuting and resident students.
Parking Services added 217 spaces since the start of the semester and is adding about 500 more within the next six months. There are also two parking decks that are planned to be built and three flat lots.
Students have to be willing to park further away from campus in order to find a parking spot. Caton said that in lot 8 there are about 100-150 empty parking spaces available at peak times of the day.
1 comments