LIFE AT the University involves countless exorbitant fees, but perhaps no department has been so successful at screwing over students than Parking and Transportation. Between the excessive restrictions and the compulsive writing of citations, the University has managed to make driving on Grounds an experience straight out of hell.
Designing the parking zones and policies of any high-traffic community involves a certain balance. Fines should be harsh enough to discourage violations, but small enough to reflect the size of the infraction. But here at the University, the penalties for illegal parking cause far more pain and suffering than is necessary to deter a future offense.
Currently, the University has an agreement with private towing companies that students will be charged $50 per tow. However, the towing companies are free to charge additional fees for storage, release and the size of the car, making the agreement somewhat irrelevant to the actual financial burden on students. As private, for-profit businesses, these companies have every incentive to tack on fees. With tickets ranging from $30 to $100, the combination of the tow and the ticket can easily be well over $100.
Although University students are frequently stereotyped as wealthy children of privilege, not every student can simply forward costly parking tickets to sympathetic parents. Many students work part time to cover expenses, and the price of recovering a towed car, on top of the ticket, can easily consume a week of hourly wages.
In addition to being a burden on students, the fees are much higher than necessary to deter violations. Students don't park illegally because they don't care if they get towed. Most violations occur because students forget to move their cars or because the lack of close parking options leaves them little choice but to risk a ticket.
On-Grounds dorm buildings provide little space for students to unload their cars. Many residents of these buildings hold passes for the Ivy/Emmet garage, a 10-minute walk that includes several flights of stairs and lanes of traffic. Students cannot reasonably be expected to haul furniture or groceries from this distance.
Parking and Transportation Director Rebecca White pointed out that the department has placed parking meters across the street from many buildings, but given the option of carrying heavy objects across a high traffic street or parking outside of your dorm room, most students understandably try to park briefly below their rooms. Many students take their chances by parking briefly on the curb, but if caught, the fine is $100 for parking in a fire lane.
On weekends, parking restrictions are lifted on precious few spots on Central Grounds, such as the spaces behind Clarke Library. But even these spaces are frequently blocked off for University events such as concerts and football games. Because naturally, sports fans deserve priority over students who need to park near libraries and academic buildings for academic reasons.
Clearing the lots before football and basketball games does nothing to reduce the congestion surrounding Grounds; students have to park somewhere, and their cars fill the garages and other distant lots. Game day parking merely allows the University to make money at the expense of students who have paid over $100 for their passes.
Parking will never be solved to everyone's satisfaction, but simple changes could ease the burden on students. First, students should be allowed to park on Grounds during weekends if they arrive first, even during football and basketball games. Second, parking officers should allow students to park in front of dorm buildings to unload their cars; this could be accomplished by designating a few spaces with 15-minute limits directly in front of the buildings.
Most importantly, fines should be reasonable: No one should have to pay more than $50 to retrieve a towed car, and the University should end contracts with any private company that tacks on extra fees. Additionally, if a student receives a ticket and gets towed for the same violation, the towing fee is enough of a penalty, and any tickets on top of the tow should be forgiven.
Of course, the most obvious solution for students is to avoid parking illegally, and some tickets are necessary to maintain order. However, Parking and Transportation should recognize that students are greatly inconvenienced by the parking restrictions on Grounds, and the punishment for forgetting a regulation or parking temporarily should be proportional to the small impact of the crime.
Cari Lynn Hennessy's column usually appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at chennessy@cavalierdaily.com.
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