Though the parking and transportation department added 1,414 new spots this year alone, many more are on the way.
The completion of the new parking garage attached to the Pavilion at Ole Miss offers 400 new reserved spots, 162 of which are still available for purchase.
The non-reserved spots in this lot work on a meter system, which generates an average $300 a day for the parking department.
“There are a lot of things coming in down the road,” Harris said. “We try to do all we can to accommodate everyone as best we can with the limited amount of parking that we have.”
(Graphic by: Clara Turnage)
That limited amount, however, is growing. The department plans to bring 1,429 new parking spaces to campus with the completion of their next project a residential parking garage behind Kincannon residence hall, for which construction will begin this spring. Vehicles with any form of residential pass will have access to this new lot, meant to accommodate the rapidly growing student body.
In addition to their new parking areas, the parking department partnered with the Parker app in August 2014. The app allows users to pay Oxford or University meters directly through their phones, as well as see which lots are full before arriving to campus.
Funding projects such as the app and new parking areas has not been easy, however. The department acts as an auxiliary, meaning they receive no state or university funding other than that which they generate internally. The bus system alone requires around $1 million a year, Harris said.
“Students don’t pay to ride buses; we don’t have a transportation fee,” Harris said. “So we pay that out of our permit and citation revenues.”
Harris said he has always been an advocate of having those who utilize a certain resource pay for that resource.
“Those who are using the roadways and parking lots are those who buy permits,” Harris said. “Those who are getting those citations are those who have vehicles.”
A staff of only 12 officers across campus generates this funding. These officers are divided into precinct zones on campus, with two officers covering each zone. Harris said that these officers strive for consistency. They know which areas yield the most citations, so they monitor these areas specifically. Each year, these officers write between 45,000 and 55,000 tickets, Harris said.
The $1-1.5 million generated from ticketing revenues comes from a mere 12 percent of all UM students, with 88 percent of students remaining ticket-free throughout their time here. Harris said he sees ticketing as a necessary hassle to ensure a stronger parking system for everyone.
“We see an illegally parked vehicle and we write a ticket,” Harris said. “I’ve never written a person a ticket; I write a vehicle a ticket.”
One of the most difficult facets of the job, Harris said, is accommodating for the different groups on campus.
“We have a lot of different areas to cater to and one is no more important than the other but we have to look at students, faculty and staff as our primary,” Harris said. “The numbers are what dictates how you shuffle those things around. Students are the biggest number faculty and staff second.”
With something that affects as many parts of campus as parking does, there are always many people who want to advise, Harris said. A common suggestion for the parking department is to restrict freshman from having vehicles on campus. Harris said the department has refrained from this restriction because the University’s rural setting and large number of out-of-state students discourages them from doing so.
“We see that as being such a negative,” Harris said. “We think that if we were to make that decision, it would be detrimental to our enrollment growth.”
