School Parking Hello, Mr. Martinez.

School Parking

Hello, Mr. Martinez. As you are well aware, the overall student population at Florida International University has become very disgruntled over the apparent lack of decision making regarding student parking. The campus, to my delight, has been very vocal in their assertions regarding parking and its overall availability. In addition, faculty, staff, and visitors are all united in their concerns over the lack of parking availability. These negative sentiments can affect the campus and its overall reputation irrefutability is this problem continues unabated. As such, this document provides plausible solutions to the Universities parking epidemic that mitigates harm to the university while also adding convenience to all patrons. Furthermore, the document provides valuable insight as to how to prevent this problem from occurring in the future. Through the use of this document, my aim is to provide a financial atoneable solution that is both relevant and timely.

To begin, I would first like to present figure 1, highlighted the number of parking spaces to the number of students enrolled in the university. As you can infer, the campus has grown enormously throughout its three-decade history. Students are now recognizing the value proposition of the university in regards to academics and overall quality. However, the available parking spaces have not grown at a rate anywhere near that of the students. This creates massive inconvenience in the form of transportation, timeliness, and overall traffic. There are now roughly 6 students for every 1 available parking space. This corresponds with a ratio of roughly 1 to 1 in 1970 and 2 to one in 1980.

Figure 1: Comparison of Student Body Increase to Decrease in Availability of Student Parking

YEAR

NUMBER of STUDENTS

NUMBER of PARKING SPACES

1972

1975

1980

12000

1985

19200

1990

28000

1995

37500

2000

45000

2005

45000

2010

45000

In addition, the university conducted a survey regarding parking and the causes of the overall inconvenience to patrons. Below are the results of the survey:

1. Inadequate number of student spaces - 28,800 (64%)

2. Too many faculty spaces not being used - 7,650 (17%)

3. Inadequate attempts to keep students without decals from occupying spaces - 6,750 (15%)

4. Dim marking lines-1,800 (4%)

As you can see from the above information, a disproportionate amount of individuals attribute the parking inconvenience to simple lack of spaces. The university can easily rectify these results by renovating current parking garages to accommodate more parking, create space to develop more parking, or enhance the public transportation system on campus. Figure 3 below indicate that the latter option may be very viable in regards to cost over the long-term.

Figure 3: Effect of Potential Improvements to Public Transportation

Members of the FID community were asked about their feelings towards public transportation; individuals were able to check more than one category:

Increased perceptions of safety 4,932 (28%)

Improved cleanliness 852 (5%)

Reduced commute times 7,285 (41%)

Greater convenience: fewer transfers 3,278 (18%)

Greater convenience: more stops 1,155 (6%)

Lower (or subsidized) fares 5,634 (31%)

Nothing could encourage me to take public transportation 8,294 (46%)