New campus parking hours could lessen the chances of getting an evening ticket

By Morgan Lane, Editor-in-Chief and Kalvin Salser, Contributing Writer

Campus parking enforcement times were reduced by several hours in an effort to improve student parking experiences. 

The new enforcement hours, which impact all parking garages and university lots on campus, are Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.  

Prior to the change, ticketing was enforced from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the week and from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday.

The adjustment followed feedback from students, faculty and visitors expressing the need for more flexible parking hours. 

Senior Magen Cornacchione is a commuter with an overflow parking pass. Since some of her classes end after 5 p.m., she often has to walk across campus in the dark to get back to the overflow parking lot.

“When it’s dark at night and I’m alone, I really don’t like that walk to the overflow parking lots,” she said. 

Safety concerns were one of the drivers for campus operations to taper the parking schedule.

Hailey Dunn, another senior commuter, said she does not think the enforcement hours will make much of a difference, especially when campus lots overcrowd quickly. 

“Literally, like, already by 9 o’clock (in the morning), parking is good and gone,” she said. “It’s already crowded, it’s already overfilled, it’s already nowhere to park.”

Although the new parking hours are not directly tied to overcrowding, campus operations explored ways to make the overall parking experience a bit easier to navigate.

“We had some conversation about what we could do to make it more user-friendly,” said Steve Jones, senior vice president of campus operations. 

One option was offering more shuttle routes to and from the overflow parking lots. The Gold Route evening shuttle runs until 10:30 p.m., followed by the Connect Bus Service’s smaller white bus that loops campus until 2 a.m. 

There is no bus that goes directly to and from the overflow lot.

Even though the newly implemented hours offer more enforcement-free parking in the evening, some spaces remain reserved at all times.

“There are some spaces that doesn’t matter when, if you park there, there’s going to be a problem,” Jones said, referring to designated fire lanes, disability parking and reserved spots.  

The new hours do not pertain to private, towing-enforced parking, such as the Millennium Hall parking lot or the University Village lots.