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Consultant says UB has adequate parking
By DONNA LONGENECKER
Reporter Assistant Editor
When it comes to parking issues at UB, perception doesn't fit reality, according to Barbara Chance of Chance Management Advisors Inc., the consulting firm hired by the university to complete a comprehensive parking study of parking and transportation issues on campus.
Chance updated the Faculty Senate Executive Committee yesterday on the results of the company's comprehensive parking study.
"In terms of parking supply verses demand, you actually have adequate spaces for the demand for parking," she told senators. "The difficulty, of course, is the location because all of the locations that have spaces available are not necessarily locations in which people want to park, and some people would rather hunt for a space and park where they're not supposed to than park where they should and ride the shuttle. These days, we say we're as much in the business of behavior modification as we are in parking and transportation," she said, explaining that many large campuses are trying to get people to change some of their patterns to better accommodate growth and change on campus without building too many parking garages that would result in higher fees.
"The perception of parking on campus, however, is not the reality. The perception is that you have a parking shortage—some people feel that it's quite severe and some feel like the problem is that there just are not adequate spaces close to the spine," Chance said. "The perception of supply is much more negative than the actuality."
While the consulting firm made many recommendations for improving parking and transportation on campus, Chance pointed out several improvements that were made during the period the study was conducted. They include:
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Built South Lake lot and paved Stadium lot
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Re-striped handicapped parking spaces
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Replaced lot designation signs
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Produced departmental orientation video
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Purchased five new shuttle vehicles and increased shuttle staff
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Instituted color-coded shuttle system
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Implemented South Campus shuttle and additional North Campus shuttles
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Built more bus shelters
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Added "blue light" phones
Findings from the study noted that much of the circulation and congestion issues and pedestrian conflicts regarding parking on campus are due, in part, to "parking vultures"—people who circle lots to find a space—and people who drive from building to building instead of walking or using a shuttle.
Controlled access to lots, in which users are issued key cards, would improve some of the parking distribution on campus and prevent people from circulating in and out of lots, often parking where they shouldn't.
"One of the advantages of a key card system is that if you're a faculty or staff person and you're going to a faculty and staff lot, you have a card that lets you in and if you don't have the card you don't get in," Chance said. "You don't have to write tickets. You don't have to argue over it. You don't have to wait while people drive around the lot. It's settled because you can't do the wrong thing. You can only do the right thing."
The study found that people who arrive on campus after 10 a.m. on average visit three parking lots before finding a space to park. Controlled access would be a better use of resources, she added, and a more positive way to resolve enforcement and compliance issues by cutting down on the number of tickets written for violations.
Major recommendations include developing a set of parking and transportation policies on campus—not a set of regulations or "'thou shalt nots,'" Chance said, but policies that describe the role Parking and Transportation Services should play on campus.
For example, Chance said, there needs to be standardized policies for guests visiting the campus. "The situation you have with multiple costs or charges for visitors or guests is very confusing both to the department, the guests and the parking and transportation department as well," she said. Right now, she noted, policies just consist of regulations that tell people what they can and can't do, but nothing that says to students, staff and faculty what their roles and responsibilities are regarding parking and transportation.
The consultant's full parking study may be viewed at http://www.student-affairs.buffalo.edu/announcements.shtml.
The Office of Parking & Transportation and the consultants from Chance will host an open forum from 2-3:30 p.m. today in 145-C Student Union, North Campus, to review the results of the study. The forum will include an overview of the findings, along with a brief question-and-answer period.