This can be a hard sell, especially if someone does not under-


stand our system.We often hear from patrons attending an event that they “paid their taxes” or “paid for concert tickets,” feeling they should not also have to pay for parking. Given the opportu- nity to explain it to them, generally, they understand our con- straints and our funding model.


Using your sociology degree to understand your customers! The needs of our entire customer base must be taken into


consideration. Most university communities are made up of a very diverse population.We are tasked with serving this entire population by providing them with not only parking but also transportation opportunities so they can get to and from campus. We cannot just cater our parking and transportation efforts


to the affluent – we have to offer options on a varying range of prices and convenience to help meet everyone’s needs. As our budget is based on self-sufficiency rather than profit, our opera- tional goal is equity of our resources. It’s important to have a balanced mix of options, including


low-cost permits exclusive for evening and weekend use to access to the gyms, libraries and student centers, as well as alternative transportation that meets our customers’ needs.


Using your economics degree to shape transportation for the campus! If you are at a landlocked university, economics – including


one of the elementary tenets of supply and demand – shapes campus. UT Austin has a supply of only 15,000 parking spaces.


Point of View from Page 6


Eliminate the Maze and simplify the parking experience...


Guidance can be difficult. Daktronics tower and flange-mount LED space availability displays make installing and maintaining an effective congestion management system simple.


people complained. Here in Nashua, that “LEV” designation doesn’t help. I


thought it meant “light electric vehicle,” which is basically a souped-up golf cart, but it actually means “low-emission vehi- cle,” and includes a long list of specially sanctioned high- mileage or alternative-fuel cars. Since normal human beings don’t know what an LEV is,


that dilutes the public pressure.… ***


I got this from a correspondent: What’s more “environmentally friendly”? 1. 15 employees each driving to work in their hybrid


cars, or 2. 15 employees carpooling together in 5 SUV’s? It’s not about the vehicle; it’s about the number of miles. I


haven’t put more than 10,000 miles on my SUV in any of the past 6 years, and I’ll bet the car lasts me another 8 to 10 years. I’ve got friends in “low” emissions vehicles putting 20-30,000 miles on their cars every year. They consume more gas, gener- ate more emissions and create more congestion than I do, but I’m the one accused of driving the “gas guzzler that’s destroying our environment.” Perfect.


Inform. Guide. Simplify. www.daktronics.com/parking


PT Parking Today www.parkingtoday.com 9


Our demand comes from the 75,000 individuals a day who come to campus, including faculty, staff, students, contractors, vendors and visitors. If every single person drove a single-occupancy vehicle, only 20% would have a place to park. It’s not only the right thing to do from a sustainability per-


spective, but at UT Austin, it is reality. We have the leading campus shuttle system, logging more


than 5 million passengers annually; 32,000 average daily board- ings; approximately 1.89 million miles traveled, and thousands of pounds of C02 saved each year. With these impressive annual numbers, UT Austin is able


to lead the way in environmental stewardship and in balanc- ing the needs of the university while sustaining successful parking operations.


Being a parking expert on a university campus! While one doesn’t have to be a Finance Communication Edu-


cation Sociology Economics Professor to understand, manage and direct parking on a university campus, it certainly doesn’t hurt to understand a few basic quirks about campus parking operations: Most are not profit-based, most have a greater demand than supply, most have to balance a widely diverse pop- ulation, and most have to get folks to and from campus in some- thing other than a single-occupancy vehicle to make it work. Come to think of it, perhaps university campus parking isn’t


that unique after all. Jeri Baker can be reached at jeri.baker@austin.utexas.edu.


PT


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