Parking proposals address current, future issues

“The existing parking system is broken,” said
William Cannady, professor of architecture and chairman
of the parking committee. “There’s a lot of confusion
over where people should park. Visitor parking is mixed
in with faculty, staff and student parking. There’s
a lack of control over who is parking on campus. Joggers,
people using the library and people from the medical center
are parking here, and we’re footing the bill. And parking
costs are not evenly distributed among users. Faculty and
staff are shouldering the burden while students pay very
little and visitors pay nothing.”

These current problems will only be compounded as the campus
continues to grow and as the community around the campus
changes, Cannady said. He noted that two Rice-area neighborhoods
recently received approval to institute paid residential
parking, the Rice Village is beginning to install parking
meters in some areas and Hermann Park is experiencing a
major revitalization that will affect parking there. “We’ve
got to take measures now because too many people in the
area are taking advantage of what looks like free parking
here,” Cannady said.

Neill Binford, associate vice president for finance and
administration and parking committee member, said that another
great concern is the amount of university money that is
being used to fund the parking system that otherwise could
be used for academic purposes. “The university is spending
almost $900,000 in what is essentially general and education
funding to subsidize parking,” he said.

After weighing the options, the Committee on Parking targeted
three solutions to these issues: First, charge a fee for
visitor parking and create consolidated, clearly defined
visitor lots. “It’s very rare that you go onto
a campus as a visitor and don’t pay for parking,”
Binford said. The proposed fee of 75 cents to $1.50 per
hour is expected defray a substantial portion of the parking-related
costs. Moreover, paid visitor parking should discourage
medical center personnel from parking on campus for free.
A system for validating parking would be established to
accommodate special visitors to campus. Free visitor parking
would still be available in the west stadium lot.

Finally, the committee recommended an increase in parking
fees for all lots as well as reclassification of fee levels
for several lots.
“Several years ago we made M lot [Lovett Hall/Cohen
House/Allen Center] a ‘premium’ lot, increasing
the fee because demand for that lot was huge,” Binford
said. “Now all the lots east of the music school could
produce a substantial waiting list, so the committee has
recommended that they all be named ‘premium.’”

Depending on the lot in which users are registered to park,
they would see increases of as little at $1 per month to
as much as $9 per month.
The ultimate goal of these recommendations is to create
a parking system that is fully self-supporting within a
decade.

“The Rice system must find new ways for those who use
parking facilities to pay an increasing share each year
and systematically reverse the draw from general and education
funding sources,” Cannady said. “In time, the
new system needs to fully pay for itself and function as
an auxiliary enterprise.”