Transportation changes ahead for 2006-07

On-campus parking rates will rise slightly, a free new campus bus route will be added, and moped drivers for the first time will be required to display a $55 annual parking permit, officials said in rolling out transportation changes for 2006-07.

Annual base lot parking rates will increase $10 across the board, according to Lance Lunsway, director of Transportation Services.

Annual base lot level one permits will cost $445, level two permits will cost $695, and level three permits will cost $1,035 for the coming year. Park-and-ride rates will increase $5 to $175.

Lunsway says parking application information will be sent to current customers during the first week of May; June 5 will be the last day to apply. Officials expect to notify applicants of the parking assignments during the week of July 17.

The campus Flex Parking system will also change. Instead of paying flat hourly fees for Flex Parking, motorists will pay a $3 fee that includes the first four hours of parking and 75 cents for each additional hour, up to a $6 maximum daily charge.

The campus will also get a new, free bus route, called the South Park Circulator.

It will travel from 21 N. Park St., the site of a new residence hall, the new Lot 29 parking ramp and office building, to Lake Street to the Memorial Union. From there, it will travel up Observatory Drive to Charter Street and on to Union South. From there, the bus will travel via Dayton Street to Mills Street and back to Park Street.

The bus will complement the existing Route 80 campus bus and will offer daytime service every seven minutes on weekdays during the academic year and every 15 minutes during recess periods.

In another change, the Villager Mall park-and-ride must be discontinued because of construction. But the University Research Park location will still be available.

Moped drivers will also be required for the first time to purchase a $55 annual parking permit beginning in 2006-07. The scooters will also be required to park only in marked stalls on campus.

This year, the university began providing the moped stalls in the central campus — and ticketing those who failed to use them — as a way to reduce conflicts between a growing number of scooters and pedestrians and bicyclists. Officials estimate that about 850 mopeds are parked on campus at any given time.

“There was way too much conflict and it was becoming a safety issue for everyone involved,” Lunsway says. “Permits are a way to help educate moped operators about how to responsibly operate and park their vehicles.”

In the coming year, Lunsway says moped stalls will be available campuswide, and scooter drivers will be expected to use them.

This fall, the campus will get a new, free bus route, called the South Park Circulator. It will travel from 21 N. Park St., the site of a new residence hall, the new Lot 29 parking ramp and office building, to Lake Street to the Memorial Union. From there, it will travel up Observatory Drive to Charter Street and on to Union South. From there, the bus will travel via Dayton Street to Mills Street and back to Park Street.