For years, students and faculty have cried out against the parking problems that have plagued universities near and far. However, UTRGV will begin to grapple with these grievances armed with new parking counters and electronic pay stations.
From sacrificing sleep, to stalking departing fellow students for their spots, students have utilized draining, and at times underhanded, methods in an attempt to find a parking spot on time, some of which have ended in vain. Some students even commit parking violations, risking a ticket or citation for their classes.
To combat this parking epidemic, UTRGV has installed parking counters, a system in which a sign at the entrance of a parking lot will show the number of spaces left in the lot, freeing students from driving around in circles. The university has also installed new electronic pay stations for visitors to use their debit and credit cards instead of coins.
“Bad parking is, at this point, a part of the college experience, especially to people who take afternoon classes, like I did in my freshman year,” said Kelly Lopez, a history major on the Edinburg campus.
Lopez said her experiences with parking on campus have caused her to lose time and sleep, in order to get to campus hours earlier to ensure a spot.
Asked about the parking counters and pay stations, she replied, “I personally don’t think these new counters will be that useful, but those new card electronic pay stations sound really cool and kind of convenient.”
Parking Services Director Pablo Aguilar said that he, the department staff and others, came up with an alternative solution. Working to implement these improvements since last year, they hope it will result in less time and resources devoted to driving around searching for parking spots.
The Parking Logix solar-powered parking counter is on a 45-day trial starting today and will be located solely in Lot E9 on the Edinburg campus. Officials will gradually begin gathering data and feedback from students and faculty on the system.
“We want to see if it’s going to work for us, if it’s going to provide an accurate number, and if it’s going to be effective at all, as we start getting feedback from our students and our other patrons,” Aguilar said.
Asked about the cost and expansion of the parking counters, Aguilar replied, “If successful, our incentive is to expand beyond Lot E9 and to try to pay for them by finding a budget, but at the moment, we don’t have an exact price.”
The new electronic parking meters installed in both Edinburg and Brownsville are set to go live today, replacing the coin-operated meters.
“It’ll be easier for visitors to now just swipe their cards instead of searching for coins since, at times, coins aren’t always available,” Aguilar said.
The meters will also let users extend their time via text message, relieving the stress of possibly getting a ticket for running out of time.
The Edinburg pay station will be located in Lot E4, while the one in Brownsville will be set in Lot B1, across from Sabal Hall.
Carlos Escudero, a student on the Brownsville campus, said he thought the pay stations would mostly benefit visitors coming to campus.
“I know certain visitors didn’t know that they had to go online and print out the paperwork and sometimes they would park and they would get a parking citation,” Escudero said.
He said there should be parking for visitors that is easily recognizable so they won’t go through this experience when visiting campus.
