Wondering why half the FAC lot is empty? You and everyone else. Photo by Greg Clark.
Students at the University of Rhode Island have aired their grievances this past year regarding on-campus parking issues, looking for explanations from Transportation and Parking (TAP).
Due to an influx of commuters at URI during the COVID-19 pandemic, URI provided students with additional parking along Flagg Road and updated the Kingston campus parking map before the fall semester. The University also still offered bussing around campus and had many spaces for students and faculty alike. Despite this, many students faced difficulties with TAP this academic year.
Junior Kayla Van-Gordon commutes from Narragansett and purchased a parking pass in the fall semester that she believed worked for the whole year. At the start of the spring semester, she was ticketed for unknowingly parking without a permit.
Van-Gordon believes that TAP should be more transparent about the duration of a parking permit’s validity since, in the past, students could buy a full-year pass.
“I had no clue that the requirements had changed, so I got a $50 ticket just trying to go to class,” she said. “It wasn’t clear when I bought my pass that I would have to buy a new one in the spring. I pay to go to the school, I pay for books and then I get a ticket for an honest mistake.”
Van-Gordon appealed her ticket and was only charged for a $6-day pass instead of having to pay the full $50 parking ticket. She encourages students to appeal their tickets if they think their charge is unwarranted and said that TAP understood her situation.
Vice President for Administration and Finance Abigail Rider explained that URI must be diligent in delivering tickets so that the parking rules and regulations are abided by. She said that to avoid tickets, students should follow the rules set forth by TAP.
“There is a clear map on the transportation website that shows where everyone can park,” she said. “We have pretty clear rules, and we just enforce them evenly.”
Another student, sophomore Sarah LeValley, also encountered difficulties with parking this year. LeValley is a member of Greek Life and parks her car in the Greek Life parking lot.
She said that the online map provided by URI does not clearly show which lots are meant for commuters, visitors or faculty and staff.
“The picture makes sense when you look at it online, but then when you come to campus, it’s pretty confusing, especially if you still don’t know where everything is,” she said. “The signs at the parking lots are also so small that you can’t even see them.”
Both Van-Gordon and LeValley said that this year’s biggest parking issue was the lack of plowing in student-designated areas. They noticed that parking for faculty and staff was well maintained, while other areas remained uncleared.
LeValley experienced issues with this when a plow trapped her car on campus following a snowstorm.
“Student parking lots are left covered in snow,” she said. “The plows will do a straight shot down the center of the parking lot, and won’t even clear the empty spots. All of the snow was pushed behind and underneath my car, so I had to shovel my way out.”
To save money, Rider said that URI opted to not plow the Plains Road lot this year. Other than this instance, Rider said that all other student lots should have been properly plowed.
She explained that students run the risk of getting plowed in if they are parked on campus during a parking ban, even if they are on-campus residents with a parking pass.
“Facilities Operations does its best to remove the snow in the lots designated for resident students, but obviously can only plow a safe distance from the cars,” she said. “The owner of the car then needs to use a snow shovel to clear any snow that piles up between their car and the driving lane.”
Next year, TAP plans to keep the Flagg Road parking open for students. There are no further alterations to URI parking being made at this time.