Parking changes coming

In an effort to address an outdated parking system and an expected reduction in the number of available spaces, the campus transportation committee approved changes to the University of Wisconsin–Madison parking permit system Monday, Feb. 18.

As the process for assigning fall permits begins, the campus community will see a revamped permit and fee structure, a new system of applying for parking, and new opportunities for alternative forms of transportation.

“New building construction will eliminate about 1,000 spaces over the next five years,” says Mike Lovejoy, interim director of Transportation Services. “The campus community will have to endure some growing pains as we move forward with some major projects.”

Probably the most significant changes commuters will notice will be in the type of permits available and their cost. Right now, there are seven rate categories, more than 900 types of permits and 23 lot enforcement times. Lovejoy says the goal will be to streamline those categories into an easier-to-understand system that more closely mirrors campus needs.

Rate categories will be reduced from seven to three, costing $450, $650 and $990, respectively. Parking citation fines will also increase.

“In addition to reducing demand and making the price of parking more equitable, the new system will help us fund new transportation alternatives for the campus community,” Lovejoy says.

Those alternatives include:

• Discounted Madison Metro bus passes for faculty and staff.
• A new “park and ride” shuttle partnership with Madison Metro.
• Increased capacity at peak periods on the existing campus bus service.

Details of those initiatives will be finalized later this spring.

To further reduce demand on parking, other changes will:

• Require emeriti professors to apply and pay for the same pool of parking permits that are available to other faculty and staff.
• Reduce the number of business alternates allowed from four to one in 2002-03.

The changes to emeriti and business alternate parking were approved by the transportation committee Monday. Two other changes, deferred to a future meeting, which should take place by the end of February, would:

• Eliminate after-hour permits, but increase lot access for the public after 5 p.m.
• Reduce categories of lot enforcement times from 23 to three, making it easier for commuters to determine when a permit is needed to use a lot.

“These changes will ease demand on the number of permits and ensure that more people who need to park on campus are able to get a permit,” Lovejoy says. “We will also be asking campus units to reassess their parking needs, to ensure no parking spaces go unused.”

These efforts to address space shortages coincide with the phaseout of the university’s old mainframe computer, which is currently used to keep track of parking permits.

Soon, Transportation Services will unveil a Web-based application system that is designed to make it easier for the campus community to apply for permits. Commuters will also see a new kind of permit that will be easier to read and contain a bar code. The bar code will help parking enforcement officers combat unauthorized parking by giving them instant information on the status of the permit.

Transportation Services will be mailing more detailed instructions to the campus community in place of the permit order forms that are usually mailed in April.