Andrew Crighton
Staff Writer
Fees collected for student and facility parking passes are a significant sum, around $700,000 annually for parking services.
Rates for parking passes have remained consistent throughout the years. The most recent increase in cost occurred in 2010, when costs for passes increased from $55 to $150 for general passes and from $90 to $300 for reserved passes. Prior to this, two increases in price occurred in 2007 and 2008, adding $5 both years.
“The department comes to us every year, asking us if we should increase parking, and we in the front always tell them no,” said Laura Solomon Call, parking traffic supervisor for Public Safety.
This money is the main revenue stream for parking services and is used for maintenance of all lots on campus, keeping around $150,000 in reserve every year.
These services include painting, sealing cracks, removing fallen tree branches, clearing the lots during the winter months and upgrading when possible and necessary.
“I think [parking] could be more affordable, but I guess if you did that then more people would buy [parking passes] and then they would have to make more parking spots because then there would be more overflow of cars,” said ISU sophomore, Opal Durfee.
This year, a total of $100,000 was put toward installing pay stations. Functioning like a kiosk, these pay stations replace some of the metered parking spaces on campus. To operate the pay station, a student pays at the central station, which then prints a receipt to be placed on his or her windshield.
While sales from passes make up almost the entirety of the annual budget, general passes are almost never sold out
“If there is a sell out, it’s by five to 10 percent,” said Call.
Reserved passes are typically known to sell out. This year, passes were available to students for purchase on Sep. 1.
“We almost always sell whatever [reserved passes are] left on that first day,” said Call.
Reserved passes allow students to park in a car lot, numbered, lettered, and specified on the tag, as well as to park in any general lot.
General passes haven’t sold out in five years, but the parking office still receives many complaints that there is not enough parking on campus.
“People always complain there’s not enough parking, but that’s the wrong argument,” said Lewis Eakins, director of campus security. “At any given time, there are around 1,500 parking spots at Holt Arena alone.”
Eakins explained that there seems to be a shortage of parking, because everyone would like to park in the same area at the same time, in the Pond Student Union Building lot, first thing in the morning and around lunch time.
“You spend 100 dollars on a parking pass, and you’re not even guaranteed a spot. Rarely can you find parking unless it’s like 8 a.m. or 4 p.m.,” said ISU junior, Josey Overfield. “It’s frustrating. I just think there are too many passes sold for how many spots there are available, so I don’t think much can really be done to help it, unfortunately.”
When planning the amount of passes to be sold, the department takes class schedule into consideration. “We know that not everyone who buys a pass is going to be on campus at the same time, so we use that to plan it out,” Eakins said. “We are always looking into what we can do to add parking though.”
“Every year people come to us and tell us that we should buy the old hospital,” Call said. “In order to buy the lot we would have to purchase the building as well, and that’s not something that the parking office is interested in,” Eakins added.
According to Call, one thing that can help reduce the struggle of finding a spot on campus is refraining from parking without a pass, or in a lot designated for other passes.
“It’s a daily occurrence for us,” said Call.
“Something that we really wish everyone would do, is get their decals so they can share the load, and share the weight,” Eakins said.
