Event parking frustrates with miscommunication Copy Chief
In a survey conducted by The Daily Beacon, 70.1 percent of people on UT’s campus gave event parking a 1 out of 5. Of the 758 respondents, 52.8 percent were non-commuters, 46.4 percent were commuters and 0.8 percent were staff. They were asked to identify their type of parking permit, lots they regularly used during events and reasons for being on campus during events, among others. Respondents were also given the opportunity to write-in their experiences with event parking on campus. “I have been late to class because I was not aware that parking was off-limits for an event,” a survey respondent said. “It is extremely frustrating when there is an event being held, and I have a $280 parking pass hanging in my car, yet I can’t
park in a lot?” another respondent said. “That is absurd.” UT Parking and Transit is responsible for selling students, staff and faculty their parking permits for the school year, organizing transit of the T, coordinating event parking and more. For event parking, Parking and Transit provides cones, signs and lot attendants to assist with the influx of visitors to campus. Attendants charge $10 for parking in a lot that has been designated for an event, most of which are lots located around Thompson-Boling Arena and Neyland Stadium. This can be a problem for students attempting to park on campus, and in the survey, 91.5 percent of respondents said that they had, at one point, had to park on campus during an event. During events, lots that are typically open to commuters and non-commuters are reserved for those who pay a given charge. Survey respondents as a whole
found this unfair, with many claiming that the cost of a parking permit should be enough. “(I) shouldn’t have to pay $10 when I already dropped over $100 on a parking pass,” a survey respondent said. Moira Bidner, communications and customer service manager for Parking and Transit, stated, however, that the revenue from event parking helps to reduce the price of parking permits. “That small amount of revenue — it’s about 16 percent of our budget — is from special event parking,” Bidner said. “And that includes football and basketball, which are, you know, the big guns ... But all these other little things help pay for, or help reduce the cost of, not only student, but staff parking, so that’s it’s reasonable for all of us.”
See EVENT PARKING on Page 5
On a scale of 1-5, how would you rank your experience with event parking on campus?
Great
5
4
(0.5%) (1.7%)
Volume 133 Issue 40
(70.1%)
3 (10.3%) utdailybeacon.com @utkdailybeacon
2 (17.4%) Horrible
Hannah Moulton
1
Thursday, March 23, 2017