UNM

Parking ProblemsA recommendation to the ASUNM senators, in order to persuade and innovate

new ideas to the Parking and Transportation department

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Table Of Contents

Introduction……………………………………….. 3

Methodology……………………………………… 5

Step 1………………………………………… 5

Step 2 ………………………………………... 5

Step 3 ……………………………………….. 6

Step 4 ………………………………………... 6

Results ……………………………………………. 6

Discussion of Results……………………………... 7

Conclusion ……………………………………….. 9

References………………………………………. 11

Abstract

The University of New Mexico continues to grow in many aspects and is always looking for new ways to improve the overall experience as a lobo. The demand for transporting in and out of the university is always at a peak. Students are looking for a faster, convenient way to get

to class, because of busy schedules. The landlocked university makes it difficult to accomplish this, but with research and money the parking and transportation department can work to improve the hassle of getting to and from campus. Developing new strategies and

finding new ways to create more parking spaces will relief the stress of guests and students.

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Introduction

The University of New Mexico has been in New Mexico since 1889, and is now

centrally located in the heart of Albuquerque. Since then, the University continues to grow,

and so does the city. This has made it hard for the university to continue to adapt to the

demand of the students. If you were to ask a current student at the University of New Mexico

some of their biggest complaints about their campus it would include parking.

The university is unable to provide their students with efficient and fast way to get to

campus. The space to park on campus is very limited, and mostly only available for faculty

and staff. If you want to get a spot where you don’t have to shuttle or walk 15 minutes to

campus you are asked to pay a high number for that spot. Now they do provide their students

with the choice of paying for a hourly/ or daily spots, however that can get even more

expensive. So that often leads a student for parking “illegally” in a lot on campus because

they didn’t have an extra 30 minutes to plan for parking off campus and riding in on a shuttle.

There was a time where the department issued 3,776 citations in two weeks. (Lucero) A

student are forced to pay for tickets, and is sent to their bursars if they don’t pay it

immediately, because it’s if school isn’t expensive enough on its own. In the past year they

have also been able to raise the prices, and continue to raise the price to the cost of a parking

pass on campus. In another word PATS has a monopoly on campus because it leaves students

with no other choice then to pay it. Since our university is a land locked campus, it makes is

hard for parking to be available and there is a lot of people that come in and out of campus.

(Lucero) According to PATS there have been 40,988 citations given out in fiscal year 2014

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and 40,083 distributed in the fiscal year 2013. Since the range of each ticket is 20 to 25

dollars a citation. The total fines for 2014 add up to 1,096,234. (Molino) As you can see in

the image, that there is not many available spaces on campus that make it convenient or easy

for students or staff. You can also see the

route of shuttles that is long resulting in long

travel times. The parking on UNM has

caused a lot of ciaos and stress to every

campus visitor. There is a need for change at

the University of New Mexico and it can

start by taking action to the structure of the

Parking and Transportation department. The

students and faculty face the problem of

high prices, unreasonable tickets, and

inconvenient wait times for shuttle busses.

Throughout this report you will see ideas

and suggestions to improving the hassle of

parking on campus. This will include

building new parking structures and new

ideas taken away from other universities.

Picture: (UNM shuttle System)

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Methodology:

Step 1: Take a poll/ survey to gather the student’s opinions and get new suggestions on

how to improve and innovate new ideas.

Provided students with an online survey through UNMlearn, or MyUNM, where they can

provide fast and detailed opinions about the price, availability and efficiency of our current

parking and transportation then it will give them a first hand look at how to tackle the

problems that they face.

Step 2:  Create a new plan, and system similar to signing up to classes that lets

upperclassmen buy parking passes first.

The transportation department has created a system where it is a first come, first serve bias

and you must be on their site at the exact time because all the good on campus lots sells out

within minutes. Not only does this situation cause students stress, but also it could cause a lot

of problems. They are sold during the summer and most students are on vacation or doing

other things like internships or taking care of their families or having a full time job. So

missing the chance to access the website at 8 am on a Monday might not be a possibility for

some students. So the next step is to create a system similar to signing up to classes during the

spring semester for the next upcoming semester it would make it a fairer chance at giving all

students the opportunity to buy a permit by seniority.

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Step 3: Research and develop new underground parking structures and find out if it

would be possible for more on campus parking.

The cost of construction for a college dormitory that would range 2-3 stories underground

would cost 4,783,600. (Construction) In one year we were able to collect over 1 million

dollars in revenue just from citations. That does not include the costs from parking permits or

the pay stations on campus, which surely brings in one to two more million dollars. So with

proper budgeting then the next step would be to build an additional parking structure to

purchase semester/ year passes.

Step 4:  Research other campuses across the nation on how they tackle student parking/

more affordable for students.

Other campuses like Washington State University or the University of Massachusetts have

pay meters as low at 60 cents an hour, this price is incredibly low compared to UNM’s $1

every half hour. (McClure) Other campuses, like Rutgers has classes that are staggered times

instead of every class on MWF starting at the top of the hour. This provides traffic near

campus to lower and everyone wont be showing up to the off site parking at the same time,

making the traveling in a shuttle faster and easier.

Other campuses find out from their students through a detail survey of who is going to be on

campus during what time, and they were able to coordinate multiple permits from morning to

afternoon to night in a number spot. It takes a lot of work from their department but in the end

they were able to sell more permits and make students happier. It also gives the student the

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opportunity to buy a cheaper permit by purchasing a half day, however the choice to

purchasing a full day was still available.

Results

The parking and transportation department has grown into one of the biggest departments on

campus and some would say the most important. They have a lot of control over the way the

university is run and how the traffic is flowed throughout the day. Our parking and

transportation has not been updated with their system as fast as the enrollment is increasing.

Just doing a little research of the revenue, and what other colleges do, it is simple to see that

our University just needs to put the innovation. The next steps of providing the opportunity to

have feedback, build new parking structures, and having new strategies for the cost of pay

stations and permits will make our students happier and enjoy going to school that much more

and proud to be a Lobo. Our University has grown, and continues to grow to make the place

where they attend school enjoyable and comfortable. They continue to make tremendous steps

towards improving our school, and updating the PATS department should be our next step.

The research that was conducted and gathered proves that the University can afford and it is

more than appropriate to start on a new strategy to accommodate the amount of traffic that

comes to the university.

Discussion of Results

After the research was conducted it was clear that many college campuses face these same

problems that we face. As students we have to take the initiative in order to see a change. In

order to see a change we have to have a detailed plan that has a layout of every possible

outcome.

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Gain feedback: By providing the students with the option to fill out a form that expresses

their opinions and thoughts would be more affective then what they do now to gather

feedback. The seminars that they host in the SUB during class time are obviously not going

to get a range of feedback that they really need to improve. When we give the student the

chance to complete the form on their own time, it is more convenient and the result that you

will see is a range of valid feedback and possibly new initiative ideas. . This would give the

transportation department a chance to evaluate their prices of passes and how to make the

university more universal for everyone. Feedback is a crucial factor to improving the

department, because after all the university is for the students, you have to hear and try to

achieve the goals that the students believe will overall impact their experience as a lobo.

A new way to distribute parking permits: providing students with a fair way to purchase

permits, gives students the opportunity to receive the parking lot that they deserve and desire.

A student that has been on campus for 3+ years that is occupied by a family/ internship/

fulltime job that doesn’t have time to wait for a free for all system, to receive a good on

campus parking permit is now allowed to. This provides students and the department a clear

and easier way to determine who will receive which parking lot. By creating a plan that is

similar to the way you register for classes it eliminates the possibility of the site crashing, so

overall this would be efficient for both parties.

Construct a new underground parking structure: With the revenue that PATS brings in

just from parking tickets they can afford to invest in a new underground parking structure. If

we put them where the parking lots are now, we will be able to allow more students to

purchase on campus passes. The construction time for this project could be completed over

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summer break and ready for the next semester. This would allow the PATS department to

work around the problem of a land locked campus.

Research from other campus: After my research, I have concluded that the information that

I gathered from other campuses seems to be the most helpful. The other universities also have

the same problem but are always working to accommodate for their students. If we cant add

more parking lots to our campus, then lower the cost of pay stations. This allows students to

park there if they are running late or just wish to have a car on campus. Next the university

needs to work as a team for the next items but its not impossible because other campuses

across the nation are doing it. Stagger classes where the volume of students trying to get to

campus isn’t so high. The results will be faster shuttle busses for off campus parking lots,

less overall traffic in the university area. Next work with admissions and plan a numbered

parking spot and correlate two people to a spot depending on their schedule and times that

they will be on campus, essentially a am/ pm parking pass. If a student would like to purchase

a full day pass then they can pay for a higher price.

Final Recommendations

The final recommendations that would follow after this research as a student I would push to

ASUNM to encourage the department to do their research and better the student experience.

ASUNM can conduct the student surveys and student feedbacks. The parking and

transportation at UNM, has begin to be a serious problem with prices, inconvenience, and

other factors to students. If they took the initiative they have to write citations then they

would be update as other campuses are. There is a need for change on the University of New

Mexico and it can start by taking action to the problems we face of high prices, unreasonable

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tickets, and inconvenient wait times for shuttle busses. Thank you for taking the time to read

and listen to the points and strategies that I have gathered in research.

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References

"Construction Cost Estimates for College Dormitory (2-3 Story) in National, US." Parking

Structure. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

Lucero, Marissa. "University of New Mexico Issues 3,776 Parking Citations in 2 Weeks."

KRQE News 13. N.p., 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

McClure, Ann. "Go With the Flow: Campus Traffic and Parking Solutions." University Business Magazine. N.p., May 2010. Web. 02 Dec. 2016.

Molina, Savannah, Brendon Gray, Matthew Narvaiz, and Daily Lobo Readers. "Parking

Citations Help Fund Maintenence." The Daily Lobo. The Daily Lobo, n.d. Web. 21 Nov.

2016.

"UNM Shuttle System." UNM Shuttle System :: Parking & Transportation Services | The University of New Mexico. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.

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