The "grace period" for ticketing is officially over as of Monday. This means that students, faculty and staff can now expect to find a ticket from Parking and Transportation Services stuffed under their windshield wipers if they park in an unauthorized space.
During the grace periods at the beginning of each semester, warning citations are distributed to give new students, faculty and staff a chance to adjust to UB's parking rules. According to Chris Austin, associate director of Parking and Transportation Services, over 1,000 were distributed this semester.
"There is a grace period for the first two weeks," Austin said. "We're confident that at this point, students are acclimated to getting around campus."
There is also a one-week long grace period each spring semester.
"It's one week less because we have more returning students, faculty and staff compared to what we see in June, July and August," Austin said.
The parking rules are consistent with last semester, he said. Rates for parking tickets are also the same - a $20 fine for most violations, but handicap fines are $50.
"The violation we write the most tickets for is student parking in faculty and staff designated lots," he said.
Parking permits are free for students at the Parking and Transportation Services office in Spaulding Quad in the Ellicott Complex.
Before the start of this semester, over 12,500 student permits and 6,000 faculty and staff permits were issued, Austin said. The distribution for the first two weeks of the semester has not been factored in yet.
"We annually cap off at about 21,000 student parking permits and 8,000 faculty and staff permits," he said.
Austin expects this year's amount to be about the same.
Parking availability will likely remain the same, as well. Following last year's trend, parking lots on North Campus have not reached full capacity yet, according to Austin.
"We're pleased with parking availability on campuses...there are usually 100 to 120 spaces open," he said. "There are plenty of empty spaces in the Alumni Lot and Center for Tomorrow Lot."
Alex Fess, a sophomore international communications major, agrees that the parking situation is the same as usual, but doesn't think spaces are abundant.
"It's still the same thing (as last year); it's 'War of the Worlds' to get a parking spot," he said. "In the afternoon, I usually have to wait 15 minutes to a half hour for a spot."
To reduce the amount of vehicle traffic on campus, Parking and Transportation Services encourages students, faculty and staff to use alternatives such as the UB Stampede, color-coded shuttle lines and "Park and Ride."
There have also been a few changes to the UB Stampede service this semester. The provider is now First Transit, the company that acquired Cognisa in January 2007.
According to Austin, Parking and Transportation Services have been making sure that the company meets the terms of the contract and they bring the same services to the table as Cognisa did.
Many of the bus drivers, as well as general manager that worked for Cognisa at UB have transferred to First Transit.
"We really haven't seen much of a change, it has been pretty seamless - administratively and operationally," Austin said.
So far this semester, First Transit has been efficiently handling loads during the peak times for Stampede usage, which is between 8:15 a.m. and noon, and from 3:35 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., he said.
Nicole Dambra, a freshman biomedical sciences major, has had good experiences with inter-campus Stampede services so far.
"So far it's been good. The buses are always there, so I haven't had any problems with it," she said.
Also, evening hours have been extended and time gaps have been filled in.
The Stampede express schedule between Lee Loop and Ellicott now ends at 6:45 p.m. instead of 5:15, according to Austin. In addition, buses will be running every 10 to 15 minutes until 11 p.m., instead of every 20 minutes.
"We look forward to students noticing this in the winter weather...we have taken steps to minimize gaps in the evening schedule because we understand that a 20 minute wait can seem like 40 minutes in inclement weather," he said.
One growing service the Stampede provides is the Mall and Market shuttle, which runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
According to Austin, more students have been using the shuttle this semester than in previous years and there were some full loads during opening week.
Inah Hwang, a junior accounting major, has used this service in past semesters.
"It's kind of useful because I don't have a car," she said. "The only problem it has is it comes too late. I think it should come at 3:00 rather than 4:00 because I wanted to go to the bank in Boulevard Mall, but it was closed when I got there."
This semester, Hwang has avoided taking the shuttle thus far, but thinks she'll use it eventually.
"I'll use it someday, but I think I have to buy a car," she said. "It's hard to get on the buses with all those bags and with all of the people. I've had to stand sometimes, especially in the beginning of the semester."
Although no further changes will be made this year, Parking and Transportation Services are considering a few for the future.
"On the horizon, the things we're exploring are potential car-sharing programs and a commuter-only parking lot," Austin said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
