New director hopes for changes in parking
James Nye was appointed as the new director of parking and transportation services Oct. 14. As the new director, Nye will bring the department a new vision and new goals to deal with an ever-changing campus.
Nye said he acknowledges that every parking lot on campus is considered a future building site for the expanding university. With new buildings being designed and developed, Nye is ready to take the potential loss of 150 parking stalls in upcoming years. The result will mean even less parking will be available to both faculty and students.
Because Parking and Transportation is one of the self-sustaining entities that compose Utah State University Support Enterprises, Nye said Parking needs to make enough money to plan for the future.
This may include extending parking terrace hours from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. to better accommodate guests and visitors to the campus and prevent the terrace from becoming too full in the evening hours. So far, acts to change the terrace parking system and hours have been defeated by a parking committee.
Parking earns a total revenue of $1.3 million and while none of that amount comes from student tuition, there is a student fee of $16.99 per semester. The revenue for the department mainly comes from sales of parking permits, terrace fees, special events and citations. Fifteen thousand citations were issued in the 2008-09 year, a decrease from previous years, and yet only amounts to nine percent of the total revenue.
Laurel Huston, an alumna of USU, has been employed with parking services since August.
“We take education into consideration when handing out citations. We give out warnings so individuals know what they did wrong and hopefully won’t get one again,” she said.
Kylie Jones, USU junior, said she thinks there are different ways to implement the money being spent and who gets charged.
“I think that if citations cost more, parking permits could cost less,” Jones said. “Then the people who follow the rules are rewarded and those who abuse parking will have to pay the price.
The revenue is spent in three main areas: labor, bond payments, and police salaries. Parking services has a yearly bond payment of $350,000 going towards their portion on paying for the parking terrace structures. Parking services must also pay for fuel, maintenance and construction while planning for future projects. Nye also wants to continue a five-year plan to replace the 10 shuttle buses, said to carry 975,000 students per year, by purchasing a new $250,000 bus each year.
Nye said while expenses are high, they try to keep cost as “lean as possible.”
USU’s parking philosophy is centered around three main principles: efficiency, convenience, and inexpensive prices. Nye said that while it would be great to be able to apply all three principles to each situation, it is unfortunately not possible due to limited parking and multiple users.
Jones said as a student, she has noticed major changes in parking and traffic because of the high number of students, and changes would make things easier for everyone.
“I think there are definitely some changes that can be made, especially since more students are coming here now. I can tell the difference just by the traffic,” Jones said.
Having worked in the parking department for three years and for 21 years as a patrolman and lieutenant for the Utah State University Police Department, Nye’s vision for parking revolves around service. Nye said this is one of his primary concerns, and the customer comes first in his eyes. He said he wants visitors and guests to feel taken care of from the moment they arrive on campus. Nye states in his vision,”We are not in the parking business,” we are in the “support the university business.”
Parking services has a liaison program that Nye said is “extremely under-utilized.” Nye said parking can offer much more than just a space for a car. They can help direct guests, receive payment for a guest’s parking, notify you of arrival, and provide a custom campus map.
Some of Nye’s goals are to increase online sales, level his employees’ work load, continue team building, create cleaner structures and parking lots and increase communication to the public and internally as well. Nye also said that education leads to better results.
–jessiesweat@aggiemail.usu.edu