UR Students consistently complain about the inconveniences of campus parking. There’s only one sure way of avoiding tickets — only park in the assigned lot or learn the rules and regulations of the parking office. Otherwise, having four unpaid tickets or illegally parking in Todd Lot results in a wheel lock better known as “the boot.”
Students with UR permits can park in any one of the open lots between 4 p.m. and 7:30 a.m., which makes an overflow situation probable.
Sophomore Arlene Peralta resides in the Graduate Living Center and claims that parking is a problem at night in the GLC lots because of an overflow of cars.
“They give out too many permits. If you get back in the middle of the night, you can’t find a space, so you have to park on the side and you get a ticket,” Peralta said.
If tickets are unpaid then such an incident could also result in a wheel lock. The initial cost of the boot is $50, but the actual fee can be much more since it includes the payment of all outstanding tickets.
If a car is illegally parked in a fire lane or if there is a boot on the car for more than 24 hours, the parking office attempts to reach the car owner, but if unsuccessful, then the car is towed.
Parking fees are consistent across the board. UR residents pay $281 for nine months of parking or $13.22 per month and off-campus students pay about $130 for commuter parking or $14.45 per month. There are 30 parking lots at UR, the furthest ones being near Mt. Hope Cemetery and the River Road buildings. Shuttle buses run near all of the parking lots except for Park Lot, which is not on any bus route.
“I have a car but I wouldn’t want to have it on campus because it’s not worth it,” Freshman Dan Kaplan said. “You have to walk far away just to get it, which is not convenient enough.”
Permits for Park Lot are primarily for commuter students and faculty members who cannot be accommodated in one of the nearby lots. They have to walk to campus from Park Lot since there is no bus route there.
“We’d have to run a separate bus,” Assistant Supervisor of Parking Services Nancy Dailey said. “It is too far to walk but there isn’t enough money in the budget [for a bus].” Dailey explained that the issue of running a bus from Park Lot came up this year in particular because of the unusually cold weather.
In general, there is no bus service because the walk from Park Lot to the center of campus is equivalent to the walk from Hill Court to the same place.
Parking spots are distributed to students using the lottery system in May where preference is given to upperclassmen. Students can get information about parking from the parking office which is open between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Desai can be reached at mdesai@campustimes.org.
