Parking passes are no longer those paper tags hanging from your car mirror. Instead, the U has gone virtual.
Melissa Johnson, director of operations with the U’s Commuter Services, said it’s all part of a plan to increase available parking on campus, while being more sustainable. She said the switch to virtual passes will save 450 pounds of plastic and 650 pounds of paper.
And virtual passes are not a new concept. Schools in Utah, such as UVU and BYU, have been using the system already. The success at these schools, Johnson said, was a large factor in implementing the change at the U.
Students, faculty and staff can now sign up online and choose the pass they would like. After choosing the desired parking permit, individuals are prompted to register up to two different license plates. This license plate registration allows flexibility for people who may drive more than one vehicle to campus to avoid getting a parking ticket because they forgot to attach their hanging pass. However, only one vehicle may be parked on campus at any given moment.
Ashley Hellebuik, a data entry specialist, said the U will enforce the virtual parking passes by scanning license plates. She hopes to assure students that privacy will be respected in this new system.
“The only thing tied to the vehicles license plate is a university ID number. The system matches those two things and makes sure that the car is allowed to park,” she said. “This new system works exactly the same way as the old hanging passes worked with the only difference being that everything is online.”
Johnson said the higher cost of parking passes in the past few years, including the virtual passes, helps fund construction projects for new parking lots on campus. She also said the increase in prices discourages students from parking in pay lots, so they instead buy a pass from the U.
“If students are spending $10 a day parking in a pay lot, not only are they keeping that spot from a visitor, but overtime they end up spending more than they would if they would have bought a pass,” Johnson said.
With U parking passes starting at $115 per semester, Bailey Louis, a freshman, plans to ride the bus to avoid the high prices altogether.
“I can’t believe parking is so expensive,” she said. “I already have to pay a ton in books and tuition, I can’t afford to buy a parking pass this year.”
Joe Thomas, a junior in engineering, said he is disappointed in the way parking is handled.
“I’ve seen it get worse and worse ever since I started at the U. Every year they charge more for parking and offer less parking spots,” he said. “Why would I pay to only hopefully get a spot?”
Johnson said the inconvenience of limited parking is only temporary. With construction on new parking garages in both the Business Loop and near Presidents Circle, she said, it will alleviate some parking woes. These new garages are projected to add an additional 790 stalls to the 18,438 stalls Johnson said are currently available on campus.
Because of construction, the number of parking spots is limited, and students face more competition to get parking on campus. Until the construction on the new lots in complete, Commuter Services recommends carpooling and using the public transit system, as well as walking or biking.
Allison Smith, a senior in biology, said despite the high prices of parking, it hasn’t ruined her college experience.
“I hate paying for parking, but I love the U,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, I’m not going to graduate and look back at how much I spent for parking.”
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