By Jennifer Quilici
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Prices have increased for parking permits at the UA, while frustrated students and faculty say the number of parking spaces has not.
"I am upset at the fact that I am paying more to park at the UA than I am to take a class," said Valerie McKenna, media arts senior.
The increases are an attempt to equalize the prices of all four garages; the Main Gate, Park Avenue, Cherry Street and Second Street garages, said Marlis Davis, director of Parking and Transportation Services.
The university now charges $310 annually to park in the Main Gate garage, $300 for Cherry Street and $260 for Park Avenue.
The Second Street garage always has been $360 because of its central location, and parking and transportation feels that because the other three garages also are centrally located, they warrant a similar price tag, she said.
Some students argue this point, however, saying that location is relative to where their classes are held, or to where they work.
"I have a Park Avenue parking permit and it's convenient to my classes in Harvill, but I wouldn't say the garage is centrally located to classes in the science buildings," said John Sheffler, management information systems senior.
Six hundred and nineteen parking spaces Ÿ created by the erection of the new Main Gate garage Ÿ and three free UA shuttles that access off-campus lots have alleviated the problem somewhat, Davis said.
Also, a metered parking lot near the Second Street garage has made room for more visitor and short-term parking, she said. The meters are $1 an hour, and can be occupied by the same vehicle for up to four hours at a time.
Even still, parking and transportation said a university the size of the UA should have about 3,000 more spaces, and one of the biggest complaints among students and faculty is the lack of Zone 1 parking.
"I park in the Zone 1 lots and ... this is the first year where I cannot park in the parking lot where I normally park, " said Donna Rowe, library specialist at the UA Main Library, in a letter to the editor printed in Friday's Wildcat.
"We do not oversell permits to the point where students won't be able to find space," Davis said. "Students must understand that spaces fill up early in the morning."
Some UA students say they should not be penalized for later schedules if they have paid for parking permits.
Anthropology senior Caroline Ahlstrom said, "Even when I show up for class early, sometimes I have to drive around three or four Zone 1 lots before I find anything."
Davis, however, noted that off-campus lots south of the Student Recreation Center, on Cherry and Seventh streets, and additional spaces on Warren Avenue and Sixth Street Ÿ all of which are available to Zone 1 permit holders and have UA shuttle pick-up points Ÿ remain empty.
But students argue that off-campus lots are inconvenient.
"The shuttle is an inconvenience because it takes time to wait for it, and when I get out of class late at night I don't want to have to wait by myself," Ahlstrom said.
Parking and transportation said they promote alternatives to parking permits, largely in the interest of customer service, and mitigate problems related to the lack of space.
One alternative is utilizing bicycles to get to, from and around campus. Parking and transportation has added new racks, and now offers a total of 9,000 bike spaces, 40 of which are located inside a locked cage at the Main Gate Garage.
Another alternative is a Sun Tran bus pass, which is available to UA students and faculty at a discounted price.
The UA $625,000 subsidy fund for bus passes sold out last year, and this year's fund of $675,000 is expected to do the same, said Yika Riley-Smith, Sun Tran's director of marketing.
The deadline to pick up reserved parking permits was Friday at 3 p.m., after which the unclaimed permits were made available to those on a prioritized waiting list.
Davis said she expects 1,000 to 1,500 permits will be released to students on that list.