Although the consensus among students seems to be that finding parking at the U is a problem, the facts tell a different story.
According to U Commuter Services, there is more than enough parking for all students who drive to campus. Finding it, however, depends to a large degree on when students are looking and, more importantly, where they are looking.
Director of Commuter Services Alma Allred said the places everyone tries to park, like the Business Loop and the Rice-Eccles Stadium lots, are always full, but there have been an average of more than 3,000 vacant spaces at any given time each day since the Fall Semester began.
“One of the best kept secrets is the Guardsman Way parking lot,” Allred said. “There are 400 or 500 vacant spaces there every single day, and I would guess that most students are walking to places that are actually closer to that lot.”
The Guardsman Way lot has 1,087 parking spaces8212;more than the stadium lot’s 954, and the Business Loop lot of 717.
Allyson Gerard, a sophomore studying math, said she had never heard of the Guardsman lot, but would probably try it because parking has been stressful for her so far this year.
“I usually spend more time circling in parking lots than I do driving from home,” she said. “I’d probably spend less time if I parked a little further away and just walked in.”
Allred said his office measures parking levels to make plans for the year during the first two weeks of the Fall Semester8212;the peak time of year for parking demand. During those first two weeks, his office counts how many spaces are vacant each day at 10:30 a.m., which is the peak time of day for demand.
Allred said demand is going down this year and attributes the decrease to high gas prices and an aggressive advertising campaign by his department to promote mass transit use. He said there are 15,000 U-bound people who use public transportation every day. All U students and faculty can get a free pass to ride UTA buses and trains.
“I’ve been here for 16 years and we’ve never had it this good for vacancy rates,” Allred said.
Richard Duncan, a transfer student from California who is majoring in mass communication, said students at the U don’t realize how bad parking could be.
“I came here from Santa Monica College and that was an insane parking situation,” he said. “There were some days when I couldn’t get to class because there was, literally, not an empty spot anywhere on campus.”
Allred said there are no plans to build additional lots, but that he will probably create additional motorcycle and scooter spaces in the existing lots to respond to an increase in students using that type of transportation.
According to information from Commuter Services, more that 28,000 students are enrolled at the U this semester. There are a 25,053 designated parking spaces on campus. Of that total, 6,690 spaces8212;almost 27 percent8212;are designated as student parking spaces. These spaces are scattered across the campus in 24 different designated parking areas.
Student housing accounts for another 2,770 spaces. There are also 704 motorcycle and scooter spaces, 508 metered spaces and 975 pay lot spaces8212;all potential parking options for students.
The LDS Institute of Religion has 592 spaces available and 137 more at its south stake center. These are not owned by the U but are regulated by Commuter Services in exchange for use of the spaces during sporting and special events at the Huntsman Center.