GUEST COLUMN

Transportation choices
difficult but necessary

By Tom Kendig
Director of Transportation

The decision to limit crossover of parking permits between the Dan Allen and Coliseum Decks hasn’t received a universally favorable reaction. But there was a very good reason for the change. Limiting the crossover of other permit types in the decks allows Transportation to better predict the number of vehicles parking on a day-to-basis. This is the way we maximize resources to accommodate more people without raising parking fees.

Think about it like your checkbook – how do you know when to stop writing checks if you don’t really know how much money you have in your balance? If we allow cross-parking, we have no way of determining how many people at any given moment on any given day will exercise the option of parking in the deck, so we can’t make any kind of informed decision on the number of deck permits to sell.

If we allow cross-parking, we would have to undersell the permits in order to ensure that everyone had a place to park. That means that all permit holders would have to pay more to make up the price difference to cover necessary maintenance, repair, lighting of lots and decks, etc. Under this scenario, fewer people would be eligible for permits.

Transportation manages almost 17,000 parking spaces on campus, which serve approximately 35,000 people. Bond construction projects to improve classrooms, laboratories and the infrastructure on campus continue to impact parking inventory. It is an unfortunate and unintended consequence that parking will become less convenient for everyone due to the construction projects.

Educational institutions choose varying methods of allocating parking. Generally, there are three main considerations – cost, convenience and flexibility – with the constraint that parking systems can generally meet two, but usually not all three. We chose to hold the line on price and offer convenience (guarantee of one parking place per employee on one campus) with some loss of flexibility.

When Centennial Campus was conceptualized, the university studied the interaction between campuses extensively. Clearly, transit is the best option for the overall smooth integration of our three campuses. Many service enhancements have been put into the bus service, including a new route – Centennial Shuttle Route #3 – with limited stops and frequent service (11-minute trip to main campus.)

If you absolutely cannot ride the bus to Centennial Campus and your parking need is for the Reynolds Coliseum area, I suggest “C” permit holders in east campus exchange their “C” for a “DC,” which is valid in several Centennial Campus areas (refer to the permit grid map on Transportation’s Web site – www.ncsu.edu/
transportation – under the employee parking link).

Additionally, we’re analyzing locations conducive for new deck construction, not only from a need basis but also taking into consideration what makes sense from a traffic management and optimum building perspectives. Keep in mind that decks and their associated construction and maintenance costs are significantly more expensive than surface lots – approximately $10,000 for each deck parking space versus $3,000 for each surface lot space.

Along with other initiatives, we’re exploring innovative approaches to expediting campus travel between our three campuses and expanding programs and incentives to encourage alternative modes of transportation.

Cultural change is difficult for everyone and that’s where we are – both with our academic programs and the infrastructure necessary to support them, as well as our ability to provide parking within a reasonable distance. By taking measures now to maximize scarce resources, Transportation is striving to stay ahead of the game and avoid limiting parking privileges for our customers (including faculty and staff) in the future. We fully understand the impact of these changes, but our goal remains to provide equitable parking opportunities for as many customers as possible.

Posted September 8, 2004

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