Campus parking crunch driving commuters to alternatives

The ringing phones make it difficult to have a face-to-face conversation with Renee Callaway, transportation demand management coordinator and the person in charge of convincing campus commuters to leave their cars at home.

“You come in from Stoughton?” she asks one caller, an early riser who wants to know whether his car will be safe in one of the campus park-and-ride lots.

“A lot of people come in that early, and no one has reported any problems there,” Callaway responds. UW park-and-ride lots at the Villager Mall on South Park Street and the University Research Park allow commuters to park off campus and take a shuttle to their workplaces for $165 per year. Madison Metro has free park-and-ride lots at Sherman Plaza and Dutch Mill. Madison Metro plans to build a third at its north transfer point.

Callaway’s phone and e-mail have been popular with campus commuters who have questions about this and other alternatives since Transportation Services announced in April that the construction boom on campus is forcing partial or complete closure of lots 4, 16, 38, 51, 59, 63W, 67 and 76. By September, the closures are expected to reduce the parking supply by 1,500 spaces.

While many spaces will be permanently eliminated, the supply of parking will return to current levels in fall 2005 with the completion of a 1,285-stall parking ramp at the site of lot 76 near the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

However, transportation officials say some campus employees — even those who have permits this year — may not receive parking assignments in the fall. Callaway says this is causing people to seek other modes of transportation.

“Usually I would get a handful of calls like that,” she says after her second call in about as many minutes. “I wish I could put a number on it, but this year it’s definitely on people’s minds.”

Callaway’s job is to identify transportation needs and suggest alternatives, and to reduce the strain on the parking supply and the environment caused by too many commuters driving to campus alone.

For the commuter, Callaway says, the real benefit comes in the form of cost savings, particularly as the cost of gas and parking continue to rise. To help fund the new Lot 76 ramp and other new parking, the annual permit cost will increase $25 next year, bringing the three-tiered permit pricing structure to $425, $675 and $1,015.

The deadline to apply electronically for parking is Friday, May 28, and parking assignment offers will be e-mailed to customers July 16.

Taking a bus is the most popular and least expensive alternative to driving, Callaway says. A contract between the university and Madison Metro allows all university and UW Hospital employees to receive free bus passes. Metro records reveal a 29 percent increase in employee ridership since the passes were made available.

Callaway connects commuters to alternatives, which include:

• Flex parking is a pay-as-you-use parking program for full-time employees willing to reduce the number of days they drive to campus. The flex program is expanding to lots 39, 41, 64, 82, 83 and 95.
• Car pools are at least two people traveling to work together. Those participating in registered car pools are eligible for special privileges, such as enrollment in the free emergency ride home program, which provides reimbursement of cab fares for employees who don’t drive to campus.
• Vanpools are seven to 15 commuters who live outside Madison and share a ride to work in a vehicle from the state vanpool program. All riders share the cost of operating the van.
• Car sharing, a member-based program that rents cars “by the hour” at locations throughout Madison.
• Biking and walking.

An avid cyclist herself, Callaway is fondest of the last option, but she admits that alternatives are often a second choice for most commuters. Her goal is to convince commuters that those alternatives should be their first choice.

“We have a limited number of spaces,” she says to her next caller, another employee interested in park and ride. “But we’re usually able to accommodate everyone who applies.”

For information about these and other transportation alternatives visit http://www.fpm.wisc.edu/tdm or contact Callaway, 263-1034, rcallaway@fpm.wisc.edu.