Parking soon to be color coded
Parking at USU has changed from a letter-number system to a color-coded system in efforts to simplify the parking system and improve customer service, said Lisa Leishman, director of USU Parking and Transportation Services.
“The prior system was difficult to understand and explain. There was no rhyme or reason to how the lots were designated, so the change was necessary,” Leishman said.
The new system was approved by the USU parking committee and the USU administration at the end of February, said Teresa Johnson, USU Parking and Transportation Services Office manager. Letters were sent to the faculty and staff March 19 to notify them to change over to the color-coded system, she said. The faculty and staff lots are in place now and changes with the residential and student lots will take place over the summer, Johnson said.
There are 13 different colors assigned to the parking areas, Johnson said: eight for faculty and staff, two for students, one for student living on campus, one for state-owned vehicles and one for public pay parking.
“I think the new system will work very well. They aren’t changing the lots themselves, they are just changing how we identify them,” Leishman said.
On the back side of the permits, there will be designations for parking in the special overflow parking lots, Leishman said. Signs in the parking lots will also stand out a lot more, making them easier for visitors to see the parking restrictions, she said.
The three main changes being made concerning parking at USU are the system of identification, the residential parking change and the relocation of the tennis courts to the radio tower parking lot, Leishman said.
Students living in Merrill Hall and other nearby buildings have been parking in other lots on central campus for a while, but now the parking lot on the south side of campus will be reconfigured to hold 60 residential slots, Leishman said.
A new building is replacing the tennis courts on campus, and the courts will be relocating the parking lot next to the radio tower, Leishman said. Students that park in that parking lot should be aware that there will be limited parking available once the changes are made, she said.
Leishman said this new system isn’t a big change, but it’s something students need to get used to.
Johnson said this new system will make it easier for everyone to know where to park so they don’t get tickets. The goal is to educate people, not to give out tickets, Johnson said.
“Hopefully the new parking system will streamline and everyone will have a place to park,” Johnson said.-monica.swapp@aggiemail.usu.edu