With weather and road conditions wreaking havoc on UB faculty and students for the past three weeks, many face a challenge in simply finding a place to park on campus.
According to Chris Austin, assistant director of Parking and Transportation, parking combined with the notoriously snow-ridden weather of Buffalo can be a challenge.
However, Austin shared some actions the department is taking to help diminish winter parking issues, as well as measures students can take to avoid a painful parking experience.
"The staff is out in each sector of the campus," Austin said. "There are four or five people out at a time trying to provide guidance for the commuters and enforce compliance with the regulations by giving out tickets."
Approximately 28,000 ticket violations were given out last year, with nearly half distributed during the winter months.
Triple parking is a common violation on campus during the winter months, Austin said. The issue has been a concern for parking and transportation at the Hochstetter, Jacobs and Sherman parking lots.
"Due to triple parking, people create a third row of parking spaces inadvertently, where, traditionally, there are only two rows," Austin said. "When this happens the middle row is blocked in, and students can't back out or go out the front of the spot."
Additionally, harsh weather conditions and lake-effect snow have led to visibility problems in lots.
"One of the major factors in triple parking is snowfall... students come in and the lines are covered, so it is difficult to judge where the row starts," Austin said.
To help out individuals stuck from being blocked or snowed in, Parking and Transportation is forced to use mini-towing, or towing vehicles from one area of a parking lot to the nearest available space.
Doing so may cause confusion and stress for students who don't find out that their car has been towed. Parking staff members have no way of notifying students directly, but have tried to make an effort to be nearby when it happens, Austin said.
According to Austin, the Hochstetter, Jacobs and Sherman lots seem to be particularly congested, though the department cannot figure out the main cause.
"Over the past three years... those lots have been a problem," he said. "They are no different from other parking lots and we are not sure what the phenomenon is."
Austin believes that UB has a number of adequate spaces and students need to look to alternative places to make the experience less painful.
"There are a couple of hundred parking spaces, in between two to three hundred spaces available per lot," he said. "There are plenty of available spaces and the shuttle services are available too."
Students, he said, usually realize that it's ultimately more beneficial to be satisfied with a space that is less convenient than to seek out the closest, most ideal spot in a lot.
"Parking is not as bad as everyone says it is, compared to other schools," said senior psychology major Lauren Maki,. "At Atlanta Georgia University, you pay $700 per semester for parking, and you might not always have a parking spot."
UB has tried to combat parking issues during the hectic hours of the day by providing students with a Park-and-Ride option. Students are able to park at the Center For Tomorrow and then take shuttles to locales on campus.
"It has been the first choice by many students, and the Park-and-Ride usage has tripled in the past three years," Austin said. Some students, however, "would rather wait for 10 to 15 minutes and be late to class than to utilize the Park-and-Ride component."
Austin also cautions all students to slow down and observe all parking regulations during the winter months. UB has recently installed orange posts that allow students to judge where they can and can't park.
"You need to be observant of where double yellow lines are," Austin said. "Students should remember there are plenty of alternatives to parking at UB."
