Students who are frustrated with the Asp and Elm avenues parking facilities may be uninformed about parking options for faculty and staff and reserved parking pass holders.
Many students have voiced their concerns that faculty, staff and reserved pass holders have too many spots in these facilities. In particular, students who park in the Asp Avenue garage have said they’re confused about who’s allowed to park in the “AAPF reserved” parking area on the second floor.
Haley Hoogendoorn, psychology sophomore, said she was confused about what AAPF stood for, and why the floor always seemed to be empty. Hoogendoorn and other students say they assumed the AAPF-reserved parking was for handicapped people or service vehicles.
AAPF-reserved permits are those issued to students, faculty or staff who have paid for their own guaranteed parking space in Asp Avenue Parking Facility, said Kris Glenn, Cleveland Area Rapid Transit spokesman. There are reserved spots available in Elm Avenue Parking Facility as well.
Glenn said there are 65 reserved parking spaces available in the Elm Avenue garage, and 65 permits have been issued. Glenn said there is a waiting list of 12 people for reserved parking in the Elm Avenue garage.
In addition, 72 spots are reserved in the Asp Avenue Parking Facility and 40 permits have been issued. Reserved permits for the Asp or Elm Parking Facilities cost $889 per year.
Wazhma Saidi, political science sophomore, said she always sees faculty and staff or reserved spots open in the Asp Avenue garage.
“Pretty much any time of the day you can expect to see level four going down and three going down for the faculty is empty,” Saidi said. “There’s maybe a car there.”
Saidi, who lives in Moore, paid for a commuter pass. She said unless she goes to Lloyd Noble Center, she has to arrive at OU at least 40 minutes early in order to find a spot.
“Who’s going to go to Lloyd Noble if you’ve paid $200 to get a pass?” Saidi said. “I mean, if you’ve paid $200, I’m expecting to be able to park on campus.”
Saidi said she also sometimes walks from the Duck Pond.
“My books are heavy, and I didn’t pay $200 for back problems,” she said.
Glenn said a lot of the open spaces designated to faculty and staff may seem like they’re open, because both the College of Architecture and the College of Education have temporarily relocated. Glenn said when the buildings are renovated, the staff will come back and there won’t be as many empty spaces. In addition, the renovations could affect the number of reserved spaces open in the Asp Avenue Parking Facility. Glenn said the reserved spots are usually closer to 85 to 90 percent sold, and if the number is still low once all the departments are back on campus, opening the extra reserved spots up could be reviewed.
Glenn said the department does space counts once a week at peak times and peak days to see how many spots are available on campus. He said 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. are optimal times.
“Available spaces are 200 to 300 spaces in any given time in lots that are designated for students,” Glenn said.
However, Glenn said the utility plant construction has displaced 350 spaces.
“With what they’re doing I know there is going to be limited spots, but they have to be able to feasibly give us parking so that we can park someplace close to where we’re trying to go,” said Kyle Reed, petroleum engineering sophomore. “Nobody wants to park in the stadium lot if you are going to the opposite side and the Physical Science Center. But sometimes you don’t have that option.”
Reed said the search for parking gets him to the point where he doesn’t even want to go to class.
“I was supposed to be in class at 2:30 p.m., and I left at 1:40 p.m. and didn’t find a spot until after class had already started,” Reed said. “At that point you’re just like, ‘I might as well give up and go home.’”
Glenn said the Asp and Elm avenues parking facilities are popular facilities, but there are still parking opportunities available even with the construction.
“If students would not drive around those and go directly to a lot where they know is open — for example, the Duck Pond lot — I think it would be much more convenient,” Glenn said.
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soonerboomers 2 years, 2 months ago
Don't pay the $200 and ride in from Lloyd Noble. You can get a refund on your parking pass that is pro-rated.
WalkingMan 2 years, 2 months ago
You aren't going to be able to find something close to your class, that is your problem. Just find someplace to park and then walk. You're wasting your time looking for a spot across the street, it's your own fault if you're late.
johanns 2 years, 2 months ago
God FORBID that people bike in to campus. There is a perfectly able guy who lives in my apartment building who drives. I bike.
Guess who has fewer parking issues?
Katja 2 years, 2 months ago
“ 'If students would not drive around those and go directly to a lot where they know is open — for example, the Duck Pond lot — I think it would be much more convenient,' Glenn said"
Who exactly is this convenient for?
michelleike 2 years, 2 months ago
OU really needs to work on the parking problem, very simply because it is a PROBLEM. I work a full time job and am doing the part-time graduate studies. I can't leave work "early" to find a better spot. I get there 30 min before class and am lucky if I can find a spot before class starts. I have a commuter pass and should be able to park in the Elm parking garage or the commuter parking lot on College Street (blvd?). I was so desperate for a spot one day that I did park on the empty bottom floor - nice $35 ticket. But I agree with those that have said it before - I didn't pay $200 to hopefully find a parking spot. Additionally, who is in love with the mismatching architecture on campus - another parking garage would blend right in.
williamcombs 2 years, 2 months ago
I paid a $26 transit fee this semester, yet there is no transit to the Law School. Now why did I pay that fee? Because OU will find any way to squeeze a few pennies out of you. I've been here 7 years now, so I've become desensitized to junk like this.
PlowKing 2 years, 2 months ago
Don't buy into their garbage! Never buy a parking pass! Except for those damn near THOUSAND dollar passes, they oversell the passes every year for the amount of spaces that exist. Use meter spots on campus corner if you have 50 minute lectures on the north side of campus; churches north of campus offer free parking (make sure to find out which ones are legit so as to avoid a tow). Don't waste hundreds of dollars when the City of Norman can just gouge you for a quarter every other day or you can just park for free. Hope this helps - don't be a sucka.
terri 2 years, 2 months ago
Anyone who has been here long enough knows that you pay the $200 a year for the privilege to HUNT for a parking spot. But from what this person says, she's thinking she's paying for the convenience of just showing and finding a spot. Forget that. Yes, it is your fault if you don't plan ahead. If everyone wants a spot of their own, we'll turn in to a campus of parking garages.
And it could be worse. When I was at Texas, I paid for a student permit that let me park on the perimeter of campus,even though I lived in the dorm, and even then I had to move it damn near into downtown on game days. I came to like the shuttle system. OU has a great shuttle system too, so figure it out...and grow up.
jssooner4 2 years, 2 months ago
How hard would it be to replace the huge staff lot by Dale with a even larger parking garage. They can even make it look nice and hide all those hideous buildings on South oval like they did for the asp parking garage which covers the stadium. This would more than alleviate most of the parking problems both for students and staff. Shouldn't cost a ton either.
johnchimpo 2 years, 2 months ago
I've never had the Lloyd Noble Shuttle take more than 20 minutes to class, including wait time, and I've been doing it for four years. It takes just as long to look for a spot in the garages or walk from the multi-purpose facilities.
TheAntiTrevorClark 2 years, 2 months ago
Just saying "grow up" or "plan ahead" is avoiding the issue. Having plenty of parking IS IMPORTANT. Arriving an hour early just to find a spot or get to campus from Lloyd Noble wastes gas, time, and any good mood you might have started out with.
I would like to know where the money goes that I paid for my commuter parking pass. Is it just dumped into the college budget? What would be amazing (but I REALLY doubt it would happen) is if every commuter would not buy the parking permits, and park on campus anyway. They probably wouldn't fine EVERYONE. Or they might. I don't really know, I'm just thinking out loud.
thegerman41 2 years, 2 months ago
Lloyd Noble Bus people, free parking and free transportation
poorstudent 2 years, 2 months ago
Wow, anyone who says this is not a problem, (these people probably have no involvement, and have nothing better to do) and states we should walk or bike to class, should throw your laptops and cell phones in the trash. Stating that convenience is of no importance to you, with owning these electronic devices, this makes them no more than a hypocrite. Also, those who live within two miles of OU should not tell who have a farther commute how we should spend our time or money, or what we expect for our dollar. The most "green" professor I have met at OU, has to drive an hour to reach the college, as green as she is she pays to park as I do, becase there is only so many hours in a day.
Simple solution: take the total number of spaces purchased by “faculty and staff” and have a cutoff date a week before each semester starts, reserve only the amount of spaces of faculty and staff purchased. This I would think would give the students who are paying all of the salaries, another level or two, that possibly could save me and others (paying so much $ to this college) possibly a few hours a week that could be put towards our studies.
We could consider this “going green.” How much carbon emissions is put out by our cars daily, circling and circling, searching for a parking place to open up, instead of pulling straight into one of those empty spaces that go to waste everyday in the faculty and staff reserved areas. OU, lets see you help us go green, if that will help. Now I have a 20 minute commute, and like hundreds of others at least a 15 minute search.
ragnarokhela 2 years, 2 months ago
imple solution: take the total number of spaces purchased by “faculty and staff” and have a cutoff date a week before each semester starts, reserve only the amount of spaces of faculty and staff purchased. This I would think would give the students who are paying all of the salaries, another level or two, that possibly could save me and others (paying so much $ to this college) possibly a few hours a week that could be put towards our studies."
In regards to this statement right here- I'm actually a student employee for this university and can tell you good portion of the staff make little more than minimum wage. (I'm not counting the professors in this statement.) These people also have quite a lot of problems finding parking spaces in spite of having to shell out around the same amount for a pass. It's those 'specially reserved' spots on the first two levels that people should really have access to. That said, I paid one hundred for a parking pass to one of the churches across from Iron Starr and have never once failed to find a parking space. Most of them are actually closer than many of the OU lots. I'd recommend it for next semester. In cases of emergency, you can park there and just pay them two dollars for the entire day, which is quite a bit better than wasting your money in the parking garage or risking a ticket at the meter parking on campus corner.
cacremin 2 years, 2 months ago
It's a crime, it's extortion, it's fraud, and it's disgraceful how OU sells more parking permits than there are parking places. I once had to leave campus in the afternoon for a sick friend, and when I returned I hunted for 2 hours (not an exaggeration, as anyone else who has tried this would know) and could not find even one legal parking place at any point on the campus. We payed 200 dollars and for that amount we should get what we payed for-- a place on campus to put our cars without being towed! Is that too much to ask for?
terri 2 years, 2 months ago
Yes I think they would fine everyone, or try to. Parking, including tickets and permits, is rumored to be the second highest source of income on campus, after athletics. There was a rumor a few years back that the Jim Thorpe Multi-Cultural center on the corner of Elm and Brooks was coming down in favor of a parking garage. And now look, it's all walled off ready to be demolished.
College is not a consumer commodity; you don't get to drive right up and park like you do at the Sooner Mall. Besides, students park in the Dale Hall Tower parking lot all the time, without permits, and I've even seen them jump over the concrete curbs (at the expense of the underside of their cars sometimes). Why do you think the people in charge of parking changed the barriers to a different material? The wooden ones were always being smashed by people parking in there who weren't paying to park.
"Arriving an hour early just to find a spot or get to campus from Lloyd Noble wastes gas, time, and any good mood you might have started out with." But there already aren't enough classrooms; what should we do, get rid of even more to build parking spaces?
Oh, I know, let's just have a drive-up diploma - pull into the Oval, honk your horn, and someone from Enrollment Services and Records will run out and hand you your degree!
mfhayes 2 years, 2 months ago
This is why I voted against that stupid pool that is taking up half of the Huff lot.... and the additional parking that was supposed to be added in place of Subway, Pad Thai, etc? Surprise surprise! Didn't happen!
pointer 2 years, 1 month ago
|I paid a $26 transit fee this semester, yet there is no transit to the Law School. Now why did I pay that fee? Because OU will find any way to squeeze a few pennies out of you. I've been here 7 years now, so I've become desensitized to junk like this.
N32 - Apartment Loop has a bus stop in front of the law school. But yeah, it's crap. If I remember correctly our Transit Fees also go towards Safe Ride. Why? Because OU is standing bold in the face of natural selection. I'm subsidizing some idiot that can't think more than a few hours ahead? Let them drive their car up a tree or spend their money to pay for a cab.