Students get on an Oxford-University Transit bus on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, Miss. (DM Photo/Dexavier Sturdevant)
University of Mississippi Parking Services continues to develop plans for the upcoming school year to improve campus parking.
Director of Parking and Transportation Services George Michael Harris said his department is looking to improve students’ and faculty’s experience with various outlets.
Harris said numbers and statistics from the past were taken into consideration in order to better plan for the upcoming semester.
“We are going to limit those commuter tags,” Harris said.
Harris said based on last year’s numbers there will be a 10 percent decrease of people parking on campus, leaving a significant number of spaces open for drivers compared to last year.
“This will take a strain off of the central campus,” Harris said.
The new parking garage will add 500 open spaces that will be paid for hourly. Around 300 of those openings will be divided between faculty and staff. The remaining spaces will be designated to graduate assistants and students based on classification.
Harris said students would be given the opportunity to purchase a pass for the parking garage even if they have purchased a tag already.
“You would just pay the difference,” Harris said. “I think it would hopefully cut down the traffic.”
Students will also be able to take advantage of the Park and Ride option the university offers.
There is an abundance of space for students, Harris said, and additional services have been added to make Park and Ride a viable option.
“We are trying to get people to those open areas,” Harris said.
Those who decide to use Park and Ride will have a bus that shuttles them from their cars to campus from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and there will be an extra bus introduced this fall to help improve the service.
Harris said for students who will need a ride after hours there will be a university on-call service that will take you to the designated Park and Ride parking lot.
Beginning in the fall, students will be able to utilize Parker, a new smart phone app, to monitor parking spot availability in campus lots. “A green circle will indicate the lot has spaces available,” Harris said. “While a red circle means the lot is full.”
Harris said he is making sure that the process of obtaining the parking passes is fair and equitable.
The passes will be first come first serve, and reminders will be sent to students over the summer as the school year approaches.
University Police Chief Calvin Sellers said even with the changes he does expect to see some problems once the semester starts.
He said the biggest challenge the University Police Department will face is making sure traffic does not become an issue for pedestrians.
“We’ve got a big concern with the safety of our pedestrians,” Sellers said. “That’s what we have to focus on.”
Banks Carlisle, sophomore math major, said he hopes last year’s problems will help improve the upcoming school year’s parking situation.
Carlisle said he fears students will be faced with the same issue of more hangtags being given out than there are spots available, and thinks the options for drivers should be simpler.
“I don’t think people should have multiple options on where they can park,” Carlisle said. “They should just be able to get parking where they live on campus, or if they are commuting just be able to park in the general areas.”
Harris said he was aware not everyone will be happy with the new changes, but he feels sure that parking services’ new offerings will help oust some of the problems drivers faced last year.
“I don’t think anyone is ever happy with parking,” Harris said. “Do I think we’ll serve more
people? Yes.”
Parking permits for the 2014-2015 school year will be available for purchase online on August 6 at 8 a.m. For more information visit www.olemiss.edu/parking.
