Parking Services in the University of California - Research Proposal Example

Parking Services in University of California By student’s Name Institution Course Prof Date 1.0 Introduction Public transportation plays a crucial part in solving the nation’s economic, energy and environmental challenges thus playing a great role in improving the quality of life. An increasing population is using public transport for personal mobility, it provides options for people to get to school, visit friends and ability to access job opportunity in various places. Rapid growth of population has increased the numbers of students enrolled in the universities whereas the number of people commuting to places of work in town has increased rapidly. This is posing a great challenge due to the increased number of cars among the students attending lectures, lecturers of various departments and people who work in town resulting in congestion in roads and inadequate parking slots. This report explores why it is hard to park in University of California on weekdays. 1.2 Research problem The research analyzes the available parking space in the university and the reasons why it is proving difficult to find parking slots by those who drive into school particularly on weekdays. The report also explores and analyzes the possible reasons why these students choose to drive into the school instead of using public means of transportation which is considered to be relatively cheap, more convenient and widespread. 1.3 Objectives The main aim of this report is to find convenient ways through which students can be able to attend their lectures in the university by encouraging them to use public means of transportation. Use of personal cars means that the student will have to endure the high cost levied for parking, time wastage due to pointless roadblocks, confusing parking restrictions near campus and residential areas as well as the uncertainty that one undergoes while applying for school parking permits and city permits which are not usually guaranteed to all who apply due to limited parking slots. 2.0 Methodology The data composing this report is obtained by examining the availability of the parking lots in the campus and factors that surrounds it. This data used in this research was collected using a questionnaire that was distributed and filled by those students who drives into the campus. In additional to questionnaire, random data was collected through random interview to students within the UC campus and the data is then analyzed. The survey collected both qualitative and qualitative data, which were included in this research. 3.0 Findings and Analysis From the data collected, there are no restrictions of parking to fresh men in the UC campus. However, there are a few parking lots on campus and it is almost impossible to get a decal to park because most of these slots are bought up quickly by the faculty and the staff in the campus. Because of this, students are generally forced to buy a permit to park in one of the following campus garages: Varsity Village Garage, Clifton Court Garage, Goodman Garage, Eden Avenue Garage, Calhoun Garage, Kingsgate Garage, Woodside Drive Garage and Campus Green Garage. Approximate parking permit cost usually ranges between $194-$468 per semester which is hefty price, considering one has to pay additional cost for books, tuition and daily expenses. If one does not pay their permit in advance, they may be stuck feeding a parking meter or paying cash daily for parking in the university garages which adds up over the course of the year. Some of the common parking tickets available in the university includes: Meter violation available at $20, parking without a permit at $35, parking in fire lane at $75 and parking in the handicapped spot at $250. There are places that are considered advantageous for parking by the students and include side streets surrounding the campus. In this place parking is free thus it’s very appropriate to students who always tries to reduce the cost of their stay at school but it comes with another cost that one has to walk a little further into the school in order to get to class. Some students in the UC campus park within a few blocks of campus with Ohio Avenue and the West Clifton being popular side streets to park (Barata, Cruz & Ferreira 2011). There are others spots for parking whereby one is considered lucky when they secure a lot for parking. This includes Curb parking on Martin Luther King Drive, this is because the parking is free and its close proximity to the campus, thus always filled at the crack of dawn. There is some meter parking across the streets (right along the perimeter of the campus), but these fill up very early too and you cannot count on them especially if you are attending daytime classes. Students purchase parking permits online or at the Parking Services Office at the Four Edwards Centre. Decals sell quickly since the parking lots are in high demand .Decals go on sale a couple of months before the start of each quarter. They sell fast especially in winter when the weather gets very cold and nasty. The university parking service management has already set plan to get decal earlier to ensure one have a guaranteed spot and not to get stuck looking for street parking in snow and slush during winter. However, a guaranteed spot comes with a price tag and the UC student will have to pay a pretty penny to park in a campus garage (Polacek & Graham 2011). According to data collected which involved 2000 students who drive into the school responded, students differ in the preference on where to park their cars with 26% of the respondents preferring to park in the parking garage.15% of the respondents prefer to park at Clifton Avenue at night or on weekends while 13 % of the respondents said that it was impossible to find out parking spaces on the surrounding streets. 12% were comfortable in parking along Usquare or UPA whereas an equivalent 12% preferred parking along back roads. 4% of the respondents said there was nowhere to park their cars while an equivalent 4% preferred to park off along straight streets.2% preferred parking in MLK sometimes during the day while 2% considers it appropriate parking in Deconess . Parking areas Best Places to Find Parking (Percentage ) Parking 26 Clifton Avenue 15 No Space in Surrounding 13 Usquare or UPA 12 Backroads 12 UPA on Weekends 10 Nowhere 4 Off Straight Street 4 MLK during the day 2 Deconess 2 Figure 1: The most preferred parking areas in UC. This is demonstrated by the chart below. Figure 2: A chart of the most preferred parking areas in UC. In response to the convenience of the off-campus parking,3 % of the respondents prefer it as it’s free and that they are usually plenty of parking slots available.21 % of the respondents said its usually free but fills up very fast while 6% said that the cost is reasonable and that there is plenty of spots for parking.43% said that the cost is reasonable but the lots fill up quickly.16% said that the cost is totally outrageous but you can usually find a spot while 12% said that the cost is totally outrageous and there are never any open lot. Figure 3: Convenience of the off-campus parking While responding to the worst places to look for parking lot in campus, 34 % of the respondents said that meters were the worst place to park.17% said that garages were expensive thus not appropriate while 17 % argued that the campus police stations were not so good a place streets of the UC were the worst place to look to park.12 % said that meters were not Figure 4: A chart showing the less preferred parking areas. 4.0 Discussions It’s clear from the findings that parking is the biggest problem that a student will face when attending classes in UC particularly on weekdays. This is as a result of so many students and limited parking slots in the campus thus it’s hard for the university to accommodate everyone. All those students who opt to drive into the school suffers from the heavy levies imposed on parking, wastage of time as one parks along confusing parking restriction areas near campus and in residential areas and the hustle accrued as one tries to obtain school parking permits . Students are usually encouraged to drive into the school due to lack of regulation such as being no restriction of parking to freshmen who join the campus. This makes them gain easy access to parking thus encouraging even the others to drive into the school .Students are always excited when their friends bring their cars into school because that means shopping ,travelling and running errand can be done faster and simpler and more of the bay areas is open to them. Living off campus is cheaper than in the residential halls, many students, therefore spend their night life downtown or out of town. Due to the longer distance that the students have to travel to school, they prefer driving to school. Adverse weather conditions such as snow during winter also increases the number of students who drive to school instead of walking to the chilly bus stations to commute with mass transit. People with walking disability, blindness and diseases that result in weakening of the body create a necessity to drive to school. Walking disability may make it hard for a person to walk to the bus station, and the distance from the station to the school where one is required to walk may be a challenge to such people thus creating a need for such people to drive their cars into the school compound for their convenience. Availability of public means of transport also affects the number of students who drives into the school. Students who reside in areas not served by means of public transport may be forced to drive their cars into the school in order for them to get into classes at the proper time and enhance their going back to their places of residence after the classes are over. All these factors will lead to congestion and lack of adequate parking facilities in the university. The high demand for parking outstrips the available parking facilities. In UC the space available for parking declines with time as areas previously reserved for parking are used to erect more buildings to give room for more lecturer rooms to cater for the ever increasing student population. This means that one can pay for a parking lot but find it very difficult to secure as most of them are filled very early. This creates a situation where one has to reach early in order to secure a parking lot. 5.0 Recommendations A lot of effort has to be put in place with an aim of reducing driving and promoting sustainable transportation. This is in order to fulfill the commitment towards protecting the environment while saving the university millions of dollars from the construction and maintenance of parking facilities. In order to reduce traffic on weekdays, the university should provide free or reduced transit fares to students to encourage them to use mass transit. The decision not to allow freshmen to drive into the Campus but instead use car-share services, promoting bicycling and offering incentives for carpooling will reduce the number of vehicles being driven into the school (Nijkamp & Batabyal 2010). The universities should also adopt measures to ensure distance learning is possible by providing access to online materials which will eliminate need to travel to library. Less travel arrangement into the campus means less pressure on available parking lots. Conclusion Parking in the UC campus poses a great challenge due to high number of students and the limited space available for parking. Though the university levies charges on parking, students still have access and drive cars into the school mostly during the winter when the weather is not favorable. However, strict regulation has to be enacted to reduce the number of those driving and ensure that only those who really deserve are allowed to drive to school. According to research conducted in the campus, most of students who drive complained that parking spaces are never enough and at times you are forced to park in garages and the cost of levies for parking is not friendly. The university must put some measures to encourage students to use alternatives means of transportation rather than driving into school such as bicycling and use of mass transit so as to reduce pressure for parking in Campus. References Barata, E., Cruz, L. & Ferreira, J. 2011, "Parking at the UC campus: Problems and solutions", Cities, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 406-413. Nijkamp, P. & Batabyal, A.A. 2010; 2009, "A probabilistic analysis of two university parking issues", The Annals of Regional Science, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 111-120. Polacek, G.N.L.J. & Graham, C.S. 2011, "Parking and traffic at a local university", Journal of Environmental Systems, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 57-69. Read More