Poll: the difficulties of Miami’s new parking system

If you are a returning student who drives a car at Miami University, you know that the school’s parking system has changed since last year.

The new changes have caused confusion and stress among many Miami students. In a recent Twitter poll put out by The Miami Student, a clear majority of the 28 voters — 53.6% — agreed that the new “zonal” parking system was not easy to use/understand.

Twenty-five percent stated that the system was “kind of” easy to use/understand, and the smallest percentage of voters — 21.4% — said that it was easy to use/understand.

The full results are shown below.

Photo by Hannah Potts | The Miami Student

Clearly, we are a campus divided when it comes to being able to understand the new parking system.

Though the system is all laid out on Miami’s parking website, it’s done so over several pages.

The revamped Student Parking Details webpage breaks down exactly who can have a car at Miami, clarifying car rules for everyone from first-year students to commuters. Then, once you’ve figured out if you can have your car in the first place, you must check the campus parking map to determine where you’re allowed to park it.

Red, blue, white and yellow — Miami has a veritable rainbow of parking passes available, with the most all-encompassing being red, available for pay only to faculty and staff. If unwilling to pay, these categories of people also receive a free white parking pass.

Blue services graduate students, graduate assistants and resident assistants; yellow is for your average, everyday on-campus student.

But even yellow passes can be confusing. Last year, there was only one yellow pass that students could buy for the entire semester. This year, Miami has introduced a weekly yellow pass at $15 a week — but any one student can only purchase this pass four times throughout the semester.

Four weeks of coverage for $60 versus one semester of coverage for $100. You do the math.

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There are only four lots on campus in which yellow-pass owners can park at all times: Chestnut Fields, Ditmer Field Lot, Millett Hall West Lot and Yager Stadium East Lot, none of which are particularly close to Academic Quad. New this year, yellow-pass owners are “zoned” into a certain lot, which is causing stress for some students.

Then there are commuter passes for our students who commute from outside of Oxford. Commuters can buy a pass daily for $2 a day or get the regular $100-a-semester deal. New commuter-only spots have been placed in lots on campus.

Between all of these new changes mixed in with old parking pass formats, it’s no wonder to me that over half of polled students were confused.

Consolidation of all of the webpages and information listed above into one all-inclusive informative page could perhaps help to resolve this issue and solve parking problems on Miami’s campus once and for all.

We are always searching for our readers’ opinions on our articles. Make sure to check out our Twitter page (@miamistudent) this Monday, Oct. 17, to vote in our next TMS-reader poll!

radwanat@miamioh.edu