By Wildcat Opinions Desk
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday Mar. 27, 2002
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Illustration by Josh Hagler
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Thirty-seven thousand students. Twelve thousand faculty and staff. Thirteen thousand parking spaces. But don't worry, these are just estimates.
The University of Arizona Parking and Transportation Services face a seemingly impossible challenge: facilitating the flux of individuals coming to and from campus - with or without cars. Parking on campus seems to be the perpetual campus dilemma, and PTS knows that.
Parking and campus are like oil and water.
In its mission statement, PTS states that it "provides parking options and promotes transportation alternatives for faculty, staff, students and visitors at the UA."
The debate between cheap and available parking recently re-sparked when more Zone 1 lots were closed for the construction of a new parking garage on East Sixth Street. Although PTS admitted that parking rates would not be increased next year, it still set parkers a-flurry.
PTS Customer Service Manager Andie Graessle was quoted in the Arizona Daily Wildcat on March 19 as saying, "We're trying to be nice to people for a change. It's not easy to do that when you're running the parking on campus."
Does that mean that in the past PTS has been not nice?
As an auxiliary enterprise, PTS does not qualify for state funding. Rather, the department must operate as a business that must balance a $9.9 million tab. Rates are determined by the costs necessary to operate the department - including new lots and garages.
Besides managing parking conditions, PTS also provides transportation services such as the CatTran, discounted Sun Tran fairs, Ride Share and the UA Carpool program.
Considering the geographical and financial conditions PTS must operate around, are they doing a good job? Or is there a better way to accommodate the commuting university community?
A sticky situation
Situation: You run Parking and Transportation Services. You have 50,000 students and faculty clamoring for 13,000 parking spots. There is no room left to create more spaces. What would you do?
I'd change jobs.
However, someone eventually has to get stuck in this uncomfortable position, and the decisions are inescapable. So here's what should happen regarding parking next year: exactly what is already happening. There are simply way more students needing permits than there are spots on campus. I know from experience - I've been on the waiting list for a permit since last April.
The only way to increase the number of spaces within the spatial constraints of the campus is to build garages in place of surface parking lots. It is true, as many students have complained, that this raises permit prices substantially. However, PTS isn't profiting much - it costs $7,000-$10,000 to create each space, which goes for $400 a year.
Customer Service Manager Andie Graessle wasn't joking when she said PTS was trying to be "nice" when they refused to raise rates but cut the number of Zone 1 spaces. They weren't just being nice. They were doing the best thing possible.
Caitlin Hall is a biochemistry and philosophy freshman. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
A bureaucratic nightmare
So, Parking and Transportation Services is making an effort to "be nice to people" for a change. What a welcome turnaround! Does this mean they will lower the costs of parking spaces?
Will they be more lenient when it comes to ticketing people whose meters have run out? Will they create more Zone 1 spaces?
Well, not exactly. They won't raise the fees for parking spaces, but don't expect the olive branch to stretch farther than that.
The fact that fees aren't going up is certainly a step in the right direction, but PTS isn't likely to make my list of efficient and effective bureaucracies any time soon.
The Zone 1 lot between the stadium and Apache/Santa Cruz and La Paz halls is in desperate need of repaving and suffers from drainage problems when it rains as a result. Parking is clearly inadequate at UA despite the recent construction of several new garages.
Regardless of this inadequacy, parking fees have managed to price many students out of having a car on campus.
I believe in encouraging people to find alternative modes of transportation to the automobile, but PTS has managed only to frustrate people. Keeping the fees down is a good move, but many more changes are necessary.
Kendrick Wilson is a political science freshman. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Shake a leg
Can't find a parking spot?
How about walking, riding a bike, taking a free shuttle, getting a subsidized bus pass or carpooling?
After speaking with Irene Babcock, coordinator for travel reduction at Parking and Transportation Services, I was not surprised to learn that most people on campus fail to take advantage of alternative modes of transportation.
There are only 13,000 parking spaces, and thousands more students and employees who drive to campus daily.
Unless we figure out a way to shrink down our cars and share parking spots, the only way to alleviate the parking problem is not to drive.
For the good of the environment and the general anxiety level on campus, find another way to get to campus.
It will require a little more planning (and maybe a bit of physical exertion), but it is a valid solution.
The university is constantly working to expand available parking, but there is a limit to what it can do.
The trend is to convert surface lots into multi-level parking structures, which more efficiently uses space but also costs more money.
The Tyndall Garage alone cost roughly $13 million, and this sum is reflected in the high price of parking on campus. You have a choice: Complain about parking and PTS, or, if it is reasonable for you to do so, help solve the problem by not driving.
Daniel Cucher is a creative writing senior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Money is top priority
Has this happened to you? You parked on campus in a UA permit-only space after 8 p.m. on a weekday. After an exhausting day, you find a $20 souvenir from the parking and transportation "devil" tucked into the car wiper. Yay for UA Parking and Transportation Services!
Sometimes our friends in the PTS department forget their own rules for when and where we are allowed to park and fine students for no reason. This makes you think that (gasp) all they want is money. Sometimes PTS goes even further and dips into our scholarship money or paycheck to pay these unfair tickets. (Beware all of you with unpaid tickets - this IS possible.)
Each month, PTS reportedly gives 3,800 parking tickets. If all these tickets are for at least $20, they are making second revenue of $76,000. Besides the $400-each garage permit spots, will eventually be no other parking on campus someday. Does anyone get the idea that PTS are money-hungry, gluttonous devils who want to rob the student body of the little bit of money we have? Of course not - especially since cheating students out of their money is top priority for our administration.
We'll just keep pretending it is actually for our benefit and not the "machine's," like the new student union, the Alumni Plaza, etc., etc., etc.
Mariam Durrani is a systems engineering junior. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
PTS: Satan's Henchmen? Not really ·
In the research required for this column, I got the opportunity to meet Mike Wallace, customer relations specialist for Parking and Transportation services. Even though his job is to deal with students who are frustrated with low parking availability and high permit prices, he remains a really nice guy. Like tax season, PTS has begun what some may call the week(s) of hell. As the permit renewals begin, the department sinks into the fiery inferno of irritated permit holders realizing their inevitable doom - Pay up or forfeit next year's permit.
PTS has at least one thing going for it this year: "The hiring freeze hasn't affected us, so at least we're not understaffed right now as our busy season begins," said Wallace, the very un-henchmen-like PTS specialist. But that's where the peace ends and the unpleasantry begins. Come to find out, PTS has no choice but to stick it to the faculty just like the students. "You can be a tenured professor, but you're going to have to pay the same price as the students, and even then, you're not guaranteed a permit."
Poor PTS staff. I'd rather deal with the angry student caller than the tenured professor any day. Wouldn't you?
Laura Winsky is a senior majoring in political science and Spanish. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
Honest for a change
Pointing out that all these new garages are being built for the sole purpose of making more money is kind of obvious, but it's a good place to start nonetheless.
The garages cost around $400 a year, and Zone 1 permits cost $185. I'll give credit where it's due in that Zone 1 prices won't be raised this year.
But the credit ends there. I know, garages take up less space than regular parking lots. But it seems to me that parking wasn't this big a problem until the powers that be started getting trigger-happy with the garages that cost more than twice as much.
So how's this for a novel idea: Stop it. If you're going to raise dorm rates, do it. If you're going to raise tuition rates, fine. But don't tell me these garages are being built for the benefit of the students. Either we'll have to pay twice as much for parking or no one will buy the $400 permits and the garages will be empty, leaving us with an even bigger mess on our hands.
Nice for a change, huh? At least they're finally being honest.
Shane Dale is a political science junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.
