To alleviate parking problems on campus, the UA plans to open a new garage for students and faculty on Highland Avenue in August, officials said.
Gary Thomson, associate director of Parking and Transportation Services, said the announcement reflects the department's ongoing commitment to find new ways to address parking problems, which in recent years included expanding the CatTran route and leasing off-campus parking lots for students interested in carpooling. Thomson said the department must contend with the reality that there are only 14,000 parking spaces for more than 50,000 students, faculty, staff and visitors.
"There's more people who want parking than we can provide," Thomson said.
Because of the low ratio of parking spaces to cars, some students have a hard time finding surface parking on campus, which can lead to a higher number of violations and tickets being issued.
The most common parking offenses are meter violations and parking without a permit, Thomson said.
Citation revenue accounts for 10 percent of the department's funding, Thomson said. During the 2002-2003 year, he said the department collected about $1.1 million from parking citations. From 2003 to 2004, that number dropped to $900,000, and he said they are on track to make about the same amount this year.
Thomson said the office issues roughly 17,000 Zone 1 permits each year, which allow permit holders to park in any of the designated areas across campus.
However, Thomson said there is always a waiting list to obtain these permits, which cost $235 for one year. There are currently 920 students on the list.
Thomson said permits are issued to both students and faculty on a first-come, first-serve basis, and applicants are placed on a sequential waiting list based on the day they initially signed up.
No one receives special treatment, not even faculty, he said.
"We run a caste-less system," Thomson said.
He said students also have the option of purchasing a permit for one of the parking garages on campus, but those permits cost $450 for one year. However, even if a student has a parking permit, it is not guaranteed that there will always be available spaces.
Greg Cella, a junior majoring in philosophy and Italian, said that after receiving too many tickets his first two years on campus, he decided to park elsewhere.
"I park at my fraternity house," Cella said.
He said he paid for a permit to park in the Cherry Avenue Parking Garage during his first two years at the UA, but it was too far away from his classes.
Cella said he was never able to find surface parking when he needed it, which created certain problems for him.
"During my freshman year, I got a couple hundred dollars worth of tickets," Cella said.
Cella said his tickets were mostly due to Zone 1 violations such as parking in a red zone that had been painted white and leaving his car in one of the meter spaces for too long. The high demand for permits, in addition to their cost, have forced many students to find alternative means of transportation to campus.
"As soon as I had the opportunity, I moved as close to campus as possible," said Debbie Bensadon, a third-year Hispanic literatures graduate student.
Bensadon said that during her first year at the UA, she lived farther away from campus and had to ride the bus.
Bensadon said she now lives close enough to ride her bike to class but that purchasing a parking permit was never really an option.
"You had to be on the waiting list forever," Bensadon said.
Melinda Simons, a pre-pharmacy junior, came to a similar conclusion.
"I don't want to have to compete for a parking space if I've spent that much money for it," she said.
Simons said she parks in a neighborhood off campus and walks to her classes, and although a new garage may help the parking problem, she thinks there will always be a waiting list to obtain a permit.
"I think parking is always going to be an issue," Simons said.