Deitrich Epperson’s commute to the U is more crowded than it was in August.
A senior studying political science, Epperson takes the bus to school everyday. Throughout the semester, many U students and employees have joined him on the No. 1 or No. 2 buses that cross the neighborhood streets of the Avenues.
In the early morning hours, the bus offers standing room only to those who want to board. At the top of First South, students and employees clamber out of the doors until the bus is nearly empty.
“It feels like Hong Kong or something,” Epperson said.
But it hasn’t always been this way.
U administrators started a campaign months ago to encourage more students and employees to take advantage of free Utah Transit Authority transportation provided by the U.
Transportation and Parking Services Director Alma Allred decided he wanted to be a part of the solution. He began riding bus No. 52 from Holladay more consistently.
“At 7:30 am, it’s standing room only,” he said. “I’m flabbergasted.”
Allred hopes that by January, many students will ride TRAX to the U. The line is scheduled to be open for public use starting Dec. 15. The next big parking loss will be Jan. 9, when the Salt Lake Organizing Committee acquires the annex parking lot on the south end of campus and the U loses 700 spaces.
“We can get through this problem, one step at time,” said Director of Auxiliary Services Norm Chambers. “But we still need to encourage others to find an alternate mode of transportation.”
On Nov. 25, the U lost more than 1,000 spaces when SLOC took temporary possession of Rice-Eccles Stadium’s east and west lots.
Plans were made weeks beforehand to provide additional road-side parking along certain campus roads, creating 1,250 temporary parking spots.
But those spots were not needed on the 26th.
That day, administrators canceled school until 12 p.m. They made the decision to remain closed until road crews had sufficient time to remove snowfall from the day before.
Chambers said the decision was made with the stadium closure in the back of administrators’ minds.
The following four days would prove the success or failure of a long information campaign.
“My reaction was one of relief. I was also thankful that people decided to take the bus or car-pool,” Chambers said.
That whole week, there were empty parking spaces on campus, Chambers said. The Guardsman Way parking lot never filled to capacity, Allred said.
SLOC will take more than 3,000 parking spaces (about 30 percent of total lower campus spaces) from the U, a school already plagued with a parking problem caused by a large number of commuters.
Chambers formed task forces, committees and groups to help plan an effective solution to this problem.
One group called the “advance team” braved cold October mornings to inform students who parked in the stadium lot that it would close Nov. 25. They also distributed a survey asking for student parking input and feedback. The survey results will be announced Dec. 6.