Opportunity Belief: Parking at the University of Florida

It is well known that there is a parking problem at the University of Florida. A while back, some students began the phenomenon of scooters being the primary mode of transportation to class. This tackled the problem, but also created new ones as well. This is a problem because tens of thousands of students, facility, and staff descent on campus everyday looking to park and there is simply not enough spaces.

This problem exists for a number of reasons, but I believe the biggest reason is because the Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) sells too many parking passes that exceed actual parking spots that exist, for both scooters and cars. This is a problem for students, teachers, staff members, and facility that need to get to campus for their daily routine. This also affects the businesses around campus, such as restaurants and shops across the street at Mid-town because people will try and park there when they cannot find a spot on campus. It also affects the apartment complexes behind midtown and towards downtown because they deal with people trying to park there as well, when they do not live there, making it hard for the residents to find spots. People are buying the VERY expensive parking decals (around $180 a year) to possibly get a spot, but it is not guaranteed. If you ask anyone who is involved with campus parking, they will say that it is a huge problem for the University. I believe an opportunity exists simply because the system does not work in an adequate way at the moment. Some options would be, only selling the number of decals that equal to the number of spots, more parking garages, more parking lots, or different levels of parking decals (Costs) so that the more expensive decal, the more guaranteed you are a spot.

The first person I interviewed was a student by the name Jade Caraway. Jade is a senior transfer the University of Florida and spent her first two years at North Carolina State University.  Jade expressed to me her experience at NC State and how it compared to Florida. She described how Florida’s parking system was the first thing she noticed when she transferred here. She said at NC State decals were a little more expensive, around $250 a year, yet she never had to worry about not finding a spot. She uses a scooter, simply because she found out it was impossible to drive anywhere close to her classes in her car. She had to invest in a scooter (~$2,000) and had to buy a decal on top of that. She experiences this issue everyday when she goes to class because she had to roam around for a scooter spot for about 10 minutes. She also has found that people move her scooter out of the painted lines and steal her spot, resulting in her having to pay even more for a ticket. She believes that something needs to be done with this on going issue for the University, because lots of people are upset, including her. Currently, she addresses this issue by locking her scooter in a manner where it cannot be moved, as well as leaving 10 minutes earlier than she would for her class so she can spend that time finding a spot.

The next person I interviewed as Amanda Lorenz, a graduate student at the University of Florida. She does not have a scooter and drives her car to class. She spent her time at Florida for her undergraduate as well, so she was aware of the parking issue. She felt that since she was a graduate student, and had more options to park with the decal she qualified for, that parking would be easier. In our interview, she described how some days are easier for parking than others. Specifically she noted that earlier in the week there are practically no spots, and later in the week there are many more. She also described that there are typically more spots in the morning rather than later at night because of how many graduate programs take place at night. She said that she knows there is a problem for parking and feels like they should just build much larger parking garages. She does not need to go to campus everyday, therefore it does not constantly affect her on a daily basis. However, she said when she does she makes sure to get there early in the morning to find a spot.

The last person I Interviewed was Jolene Henderson, a staff member at the University, along with a resident on 13^th Street across from the business school. She does not drive a car or scooter to campus, but rather walks. She finds that parking is an issue at her apartment complex because people try and park there, even if they are not residents. She said that cars are towed from there every single day because they are taking up much needed spots that belong to the residents. She described how she does not really like where she lives because of parking, but it is convenient that she does not need to drive to campus every, which means she also does not need to buy a parking decal as well. Jolene is in her second year working at the University and residing here as well. She became aware of the parking issue the moment she moved there, more specifically once classes began. She has combated the issue with walking everywhere she possible can, such as class, Publix, restaurants, etc. so that she does not need to move her spot and risk not finding another one. She knows that there is a problem when it comes to parking, so she chooses to just not move her car unless need be.

After these interviews I definitely believe there is a market to fix the parking issues at the University of Florida. However, I have learned that I feel like undergraduate students are the biggest market I can target simply because they are the most frustrated, and they are the largest population affected by this problem. I believe that a parking garage or more expensive decals for guaranteed spots would be the best opportunity to solve this problem. I can target the undergraduate population who would buy into the expensive decals because they can justify it by saying it is a “need”, along with contracting new garages to the TAPS industry for more spots. I found that there is a mixture between trade-off and “staying firm” through my interviews. I found that I could focus in on my targeted group better through my interviews, but also that the problem/ solution I had was the correct one following my interviews. Jade gave me the best insight and confirmed my intuition that undergraduate students are the most affected by parking issues.