While parking availability remains a problem on campus at Miami University, the North Campus Garage has hundreds of empty spaces.
The university has sold 89 permits for the garage this semester, said Perry Gordon, director of parking and transportation services, at the Associated Student Government (ASG) student senate meeting Oct. 13.
While the number of permits is up from zero during the 2008-09 year, Gordon said enough people still do not use the garage.
"We have a facility that is under-used and we have to do something to get people in that garage," Gordon said.
The garage, which was not open to student parking last year, is now available for student use during the day. Students can purchase overnight parking permits for $75 per month or $300 for the semester.
Staff, faculty, guests and visitors can use the garage during the day.
The lot has restrictions on overnight parking from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. weekdays and all day
during weekends.
Senate members expressed
interest in making the garage more accessible for students.
"We are looking into possibilities and we are open to suggestions," Gordon said.
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Gordon said he thinks the university has been seeing a decrease in the overall number of cars, but there is still a shortage of parking
on campus.
Gordon encouraged faculty and staff to park in the perimeter lots, Ditmer and Millett, and then ride buses into campus. He said this should help the parking situation as well as the environment. This would decrease permit revenue, Gordon said, but it would be an overall
positive change.
There has been a significant increase in park-and-ride permits sold this semester because of the second year on-campus housing requirement. The change has been accompanied by a decrease in off-campus permits, according to Gordon.
Gordon said the student traffic appeals committee, which operates independently of parking services, is short-staffed and falling behind. Since July, 204 appeals have been filed and 40 have been processed.
Gordon said changes made to the Miami Metro red route this semester have been a success, increasing ridership on the red line by 14 percent. The Miami Metro system has seen a 3.5 percent increase overall in use in the fall semester.
The Nighttime Door-to-Door service is also highly used. Gordon said about 85 percent of passengers are female, and most are first-year students.
According to student senators, many constituents complain about the door-to-door service, particularly about lengthy waiting times and the level of customer service.
"I know other senators have had problems, but nobody has expressed problems with door-to-door to me," said first-year Matt Bodner, senator for Dennison and Wilson halls.
Gordon said he will be looking into any issues there may be with the safety service.
He said he is also looking into the possibility of providing transportation to Wal-Mart, something in which many students have expressed interest.
"The biggest suggestion I have about parking is providing a bus to Wal-Mart," Bodner said. "It would be really beneficial for first-years who don't have cars. We want to go, but we don't always know how to get there."
Bodnar said student senators are looking into ways to provide transportation to Wal-Mart on an experimental basis.
Gordon said the purpose of the Miami Metro system is to provide transportation to residential areas, however, not to businesses. He also said the cost would be an issue.
"This is not the last word on buses to Wal-Mart," Gordon said.
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