This story is part two of a two-part series about the University of Utah’s plan to alleviate parking challenges. You can read part one here.

In reaction to University of Utah students’ common struggles to find parking on campus, Auxiliary Services has developed several strategies to improve the situation.

Those include raising parking permit prices to reduce demand, implementing a parking lot tracking system, adjusting class schedules and continuing to encourage students to use public transit and car alternatives.

“The need to build more parking right away is not there — the need to utilize the parking we still have is what we’re working on,” said Auxiliary Services Director Collin Simmons.

Although the long-term plan to fund the rapid growth of the student body is building parking garages, Simmons said they have to be very strategic with how to fund the garages because they aren’t built with state dollars, but from parking permit revenue.

With that in mind, Simmons said Auxillary Services has a “multi-pronged approach” to alleviate parking challenges.

Parking Lot Tracking System

Simmons said they are currently developing a parking tracking system which will essentially be a live-tracking app that allows people to see what parking spots are available in different lots. The system would require cameras at the entrance and exit of each parking lot so they can take inventory. 

Simmons explained that users of the app will be able to set a “preference parking lot.”

“You’d be driving in and you’d say, ‘Oh, there are 38 stalls left, maybe it’s tight, or it’s already full, so why waste my time and go here?’” Simmons said.

At that point, the app would redirect them to a nearby parking lot with more stalls available. Simmons added that he thinks oftentimes students get “locked into one location” to park and “would rather drive around for 10 or 15 minutes hoping for a stall.” 

Fernanda Guzman, a senior majoring in health, society and policy, said she thinks that’s true because she sees a lot of traffic in very full parking lots.

“I think [the parking tracking system] is great and would benefit the students a lot,” she said.

Simmons, mentioning these kinds of systems have come “light years ahead” in the past five to 10 years ago, said his goal is to have the system implemented before the fall 2024 semester, even if it doesn’t have every lot in the system on day one.

Lately, Auxiliary Services has been soaking up all the information they can about these systems so they can take budget figures to U President Taylor Randall.

Alex Duncan, a senior studying writing and rhetoric, said many people at the U, including himself, aren’t fully aware of all the parking spots around campus, so this app is “promising” as a way for the university to communicate to students all the parking that’s available.

Trey Sanders, a senior studying writing and rhetoric, said he’s against the live parking app because he’s worried it will make drivers more distracted.

“Do you know how many times I’ve almost been hit by a car on campus because people either don’t care that I’m in a crosswalk or they’re looking at their phones?” he said. “All that would do is make a minigame out of parking and probably make drivers more aggressive in finding or beating someone to a spot.”

Adjusting Class Schedules

Adjusting class schedules could also play a role in making parking more accessible, according to Scott Schaefer, a professor of finance and advisor to Randall.

Last year, Schaefer analyzed the historical class schedules to see when people are on campus the most.

He found that the university historically has scheduled itself to be the most full on Tuesdays and Thursdays from late morning to early afternoon.

“That’s a time of peak usage of campus … so some of the parking congestion that you see on campus is related to the scheduling decisions that the university makes,” Schaefer said. 

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and late afternoons are generally lighter.

After completing this analysis, Schaeffer said the first step was spreading awareness to deans and department chairs, who oversee the scheduling of classes for their colleges, to make them aware of these patterns.

“My sense is that some deans were surprised by this,” Schaeffer said. 

Richard Brown, dean of the College of Engineering, said he “doubts [these findings] will make much  difference in the fall schedule because those were set in October and November.” However, he’s hopeful it will help in future semesters.

In an email statement, Mitzi Montoya, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, wrote that she, along with other leadership, have “heard concerns from students, faculty and staff regarding parking.”

Montoya added that the results of this study show a way to alleviate some of the parking difficulties. 

“That said, nothing is a simple fix — while we consider ways to schedule around high-traffic times on campus, we must also keep in mind the delicate balance between efficiencies in offering classes to students, and efficiencies in campus operations,” she said. 

Schaeffer said he thinks the challenge for the U is that class scheduling is typically done in a “very decentralized manner,” meaning individual departments and colleges are making decisions about when to schedule classes. 

“They’re doing so based on their own reasons, and not thinking about how the choices they make contribute to crowding campus [parking lots],” he said.

Free Public Transit

Students, faculty and staff at the U have free access to the majority of UTA services with their Ucard.

“The routes are good, the trains are good — we just need more people to ride it,” Simmons said, adding that this also means fewer people parking their cars on campus.

He added that the campus shuttles, which have four routes on the main part of campus, are a “fluid department, so if ridership continues to pick up, certain routes are busier than average, you can add buses and drivers … as much as possible.”

Simmons also mentioned the availability of SafeRide and alternatives to cars on campus, such as Spin scooters and bicycles, and making sure that those resources are always “evolving.”

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