Visitors have new parking options

Visitors have new parking options
…………………………………………………………………

The new parking
system is expected to be in place soon, and the changes
will affect not only those working and studying here but
those visiting here as well.

Visitor parking
has now been consolidated into six well-defined lots: two
free and four paid. To help visitors find the lots easily,
new signs bearing a blue “P” have been posted
around campus and at the six campus entrances most convenient
to these visitor lots, entrances 1, 2, 8, 10, 12 and 13.

Signs at entrances
8, 10 and 12 direct visitors to two lots offering 1,800
free visitor spaces on the west side of the football stadium
and behind the Rice University Police Department. Shuttles
will serve these lots every 10 minutes from 7:30 a.m. to
10 p.m. Monday through Friday during the academic year.

Signs at entrances
1 and 2 will direct visitors to paid visitor parking in
the Lovett Lot, off the southeast corner of Lovett Hall.
A sign at Entrance 13 directs visitors to paid visitor parking
in the North Lot (immediately on the left as one enters
Entrance 13) and the Central Campus Garage (underneath the
new building for the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management).
A fourth paid lot in West Lot will be gated later this academic
year.

At the surface
paid visitor lots, machines at the entrance gates will prompt
the driver to insert a credit card (American Express, VISA,
MasterCard and Discover; the equipment is unable to accept
debit cards). This will open the gate and start the computers
“parking meter.” Upon leaving, the visitor drives
to the exit gate, inserts the same credit card and the gate
will open in approximately two seconds. The computer calculates
the time and charge ($1.50 per hour rate) and bills the
credit card.

If the visitor
is using a validation, the driver inserts the validation
stub at the exit gate first, then the credit card. (The
credit card is needed to tell the computer not to charge
that account.)

Each gate will
have instructions and an intercom button to contact the
parking office staff for assistance. If a driver leaves
the lot in the first 10 minutes (e.g., because the lot is
full), no charge will be made to the credit card account.

Parking in the
Central Campus Garage is similarly easy. At the garage entrance,
the driver pulls an entry ticket from a machine to open
the gate. The visitor is instructed to carry the entry ticket
and park on the first floor below grade. When ready to leave,
the visitor stops at the “pay-on-foot” machine
near the elevator. As instructed by the machine, the visitor
inserts the stub into the machine, and is shown the amount
owed. The visitor then can pay the machine with cash (coins
or paper currency) or credit card. If using a validation,
the visitor inserts the validation stub into the machine
in lieu of payment. The machine then issues an exit ticket.
The visitor drives to the exit gate, inserts the exit ticket
and the gate opens.

The gate will
have instructions and an intercom button to contact the
parking office staff for assistance, and if a driver leaves
the lot in the first 10 minutes, there will be no charge.

For more information
on the new parking system and a map showing the visitor
lots, visit <www.ruf.rice.edu/~opa/ur/NeighborhoodALERT.html#1>.