Parking Services cite offenders, busy schedules as reason for full parking lots
Central Michigan University’s Parking Services reported residence hall parking lots are completely filled for the first time in 10 years for the fall semester.
Non-residence hall lots still have vacancies and parking passes are still available, said Parking Services Manager Kim Speet
"Parking permits for the freshmen lot, commuter lots and faculty/staff lots are still available to purchase, although the available parking spaces may be farther away from the campus buildings than in the past," Speet said in an Oct. 2 interview.
As of Sept. 30, Parking Services has sold 8,613 parking permits with 5,357 of those permits allowing students to park in one of the 15 commuter lots on campus. Between 2014 and 2015, commuter pass purchasing has seen a 4 percent increase.
There are 11,000 valid parking spaces on-campus, with more than 9,200 of these parking spaces being student parking. Yet even with a large amount of parking, students still receive tickets at a high rate.
When students fail to park where allowed, Speet said their vehicle is ticketed. Last year alone, 25,000 ticketed citations were issued. Of those, roughly 5,000 tickets were appealed or voided by Parking Services.
“If people didn’t violate and everybody parked where they’re supposed to we would never have to issue any tickets,” Speet said. “(Parking Services) doesn’t do it because we enjoy it, we do it because it helps the university function.”
More than $55,000 has already been made from ticketing since this fiscal year began in July. For the 2014/15 school year, parking violation revenue totaled $525,491.
“The university controls where the money goes. Parking Services doesn’t,” Speet said. “The money goes to the university and the university gives every department a budget. (For Parking Services) our budget goes towards painting the lines, parking lot maintenance and other things.”
Ticket fines alone account for 20 percent of Parking Service’s annual budget.
Approximately $1,605,840 in parking permit revenue has been made currently and a little over $55,000 has been made in parking violation revenue, this fiscal year. Roughly $27,700 has also been made in meter revenue, totaling $1,688,540.
Building parking garages in place of high traffic lots, such as Lot 33S and 33N and near Charles V. Park Library is a solution that has been offered by students.
“Central needs to make tall parking structures and large parking lots (to accommodate for students),” said Farmington Hills senior Jalen Upshaw. “I drive to campus because it’s more convenient for me whenever I'm ready to go. I'd rather have the option to get in my car and leave then not (be able to park at all)."
The reason why students may not be able to find a spot in their desired lot comes from a “number of different factors,” Speet said. “There are a couple layers that fall into this that are out of our control. One of them is violators, and that’s a small number, but that’s still a number.”
Speet defined violators as students who parked in a lot they did not buy a parking pass for.
“I feel like commuter lots are always full because people still choose to take the risk of parking in lots without passes,” said Decatur junior Jaenieshia Green.
Jackie Taylor, a senior from Lansing, said although she believes parking isn’t as big of an issue this year as it has been in the past, she notes commuter lots fill up the fastest.
“I drive to campus because it’s much quicker and the shuttle comes at inconvenient times,” she said. “Commuter lots are sometimes full because everyone wants the hot spots near Moore (Hall), the library and Anspach (Hall)."
Speet also cited class scheduling as an issue for parking. Because students are not keen on taking Friday classes, a high number of students fill up their schedules between Monday and Thursday.
“A number we (also) can’t control is that most students are on campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 or 9 a.m. to 5 or 6 p.m., because when everyone schedules their classes at the same time and all the commuters are on campus, that’s going to (impede) campus parking,” Speet said. “It appears those are our busiest and heaviest days.”
For more information on Parking Services, visit their website online.
