Assignment 9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

-Who: Through this set of interviews, I found new groups in and out of the people I have already located in the market. First, Prospective students that are visiting the campus, and any recruits may not currently be considering parking, but it could leave a bad taste if you see the struggle or even experience it on your visit. People living near campus could also fall in the market, due to the amount of people who legally or illegally park outside their house.

I also found a few groups outside of the market, which is those who bike, walk, or ride the bus to school, night students, and student athletes. Those who commute another way only have to deal with the drivers frantically looking for parking, while night students are able to park somewhat easily in most lots. The other group is student athletes who have designated lots they can use if needed.

-What: The students I interviewed this time gave somewhat different answers regarding the same issue. The interviewees’ that take the bus and walk don’t really see the problem, but agreed that more parking wouldn’t hurt especially on game day. Another person I interviewed is an athlete, who says he rarely uses the baseball parking, and instead struggles to park near his classes, which he agrees that plaza could easily be converted into a small scooter lot at the least. Another student I interviewed recalls hearing how hard it was to park years back from a sibling who attended UF, and their thoughts were that if the problem could’ve been fixed by now it would’ve been, and students need to be more mindful when parking.

-Why: I believe the need could eventually be needed by everyone. Whether catching a ride with a friend or needing to provide your own transportation down the road could present the issue to everyone. Night students can dodge the issue but there is always that time when you have an exam early or need to visit the library where they could run into the same problem.

 Inside                                                              Outside

  Who                                                                  Who

         Students who provide their                                      Night Students

             own transportation                                                    Athletes

           Prospective Students                                     Bikers, walkers, bus riders

       Residents living near campus

                           What                                                                What

              Ease stress of students                                  Opens up more options

                         Save time                                           reduces stress on campus

        Safer with more space available

                            Why                                                                  Why

         Peoples scooters get damaged                                   Reduce traffic

       Crammed lots add risk to drivers                          Reduce need for other transportation

 Parking delays can make a student late

 There is enough room to make changes

Assignment 8A – Solving the Problem

-The unmet need that I have found is the parking availability on UF’s campus, as well as others across the nation. For students, teachers, and attendees of UF events, there is not enough organized parking for safe and easy arrival or departure.

-Although there is a decal system used by the parking department, the organization, distribution, and availability is inadequate. With many people needing to be at a similar place at the same time causes problems, especially for scooter drivers on a weekday morning.

Here are some ways to improve:

1.     Add on scooter parking to existing lots, while only sacrificing much space. For instance, the lot next to Library west could easily be doubled, while barely intruding into Plaza of the Americas. As of now, a service road exists that could be widened to fit another strip of parking.

2.     Give employees a few specific lots spread throughout campus, and open up the lots to anyone with a decal, to spread the concentration and provide options for car owners.

3.     Another useful move that could be made would be turning some lots into parking garages. The issue outweighs the unpopular feeling towards parking garages. In most cases minimal garages is best, but in this case, there are multiple lots on campus which could easily be converted to a parking garage to accommodate more visitors.

I believe that a proper proposal of this idea could be a topic for the school to consider. The need has been around for a while and there is an opportunity for it to be solved. With the number of students that are affected by parking during their tenure at the school it serves as a big issue. With these changes parking struggles would be minimalized.

Assignment 7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Parking Solutions on UF Campus

-Students who drive a car or ride a scooter to the University of Florida struggle with finding a parking spot every day they attend campus.

                        -The who: UF students who drive or ride to campus.

                        -The what: These students are late to class and damage their vehicles.

-The why: The lack of parking at UF allows for more buildings and open space,       but also serves as an inconvenience for many students.

-Testing the who: Students at UF and most likely other schools across the nation struggle with finding parking. Though my interviews come from students in Gainesville that attend Santa Fe College, and The University of Florida, the unmet need is found at both schools, indicating a possible pattern. With only 24% of students living on campus, that leaves 26,260 students who commute to campus. (www.usnews.com)

-Testing the what: Students who battle with parking every day for class can end up late, in a bad mood, or end up damaging their or someone else’s vehicle. Due to an issue while parking, a good morning can take a turn and lead to an unsuccessful day at school. Aside from students, when the University holds major events like a football game, the parking issue is obvious due to the cars scattered down every alley and across every lawn within the vicinity of campus.

-Testing the why: Due to the already minimal parking for cars on and around UF’s main campus, many students opt to take scooters for an easier commute. Throughout the years the demand for scooter parking has far outgrown the available parking. Although there is a parking decal system in place, it does not account for the high concentration in select parking lots on campus.

-Interview #1:

-This person was the first person I wanted to interview, a friend of mine who has class Monday through Thursday, beginning at 9:30am. From this interview, I got a true understanding of the struggle during “scooter rush hour”. He expressed that not only is it difficult to park, it’s also dangerous in the lot off University Ave. neighboring Library West. He has had a few experiences this year where the lot was so jam packed that people collided or got stuck in the middle of University Ave because they couldn’t turn in.

-Interview #2:

-This interview was with a girl who lives on campus, but drives her car to work and to the store, then has a decal to park near her dorm. Although she has a decal, there have been instances where she recalls having to park a mile or more away from her dorm and walk. Her roommate also keeps her car on campus and she mentioned it was recently hit in the parking lot, with no note left behind.

Interview #3:

-This interview came from a Santa Fe student, who drives a car to campus. With 0% of the student body living on campus, the parking is a nightmare for him. For his classes he always tries to arrive at least 20 minutes before to allow for any parking delay. He describes the parking lots in the morning at Santa Fe as (hundreds of cars swarming around waiting for someone to back out”. He has been late to class multiple times due to parking delays.

Interview #4:

-This interview was with a professor who has taught at The University of Florida for almost 30 years, and even he has experienced jammed parking lots and delays. He says that the decal system has changed a lot since hes been here, and also the amount of people who drive themselves to campus. His view is that when 1 decal allowed you to park anywhere on campus it seemed easier and less complicated than the current color-coded parking.

-Interview #5:

-This interview comes from a girl who rides her scooter to class every day and parks in the same lot near library west. One day she arrived at her scooter after class to it being knocked over, scratched, and with a broken mirror. Her complaint is that just beyond the line that ends the parking lot, is plenty of space to add at least double the parking. Although it was some other student who damaged her scooter, she believes that those problems wouldn’t occur if there was plenty of space.

            From my interviews I realized how prevalent these issues are. I myself don’t have to deal with these problems regularly but occasionally I do when I catch a ride to class. The scooter owners that I interviewed all believe that there is plenty of space on campus and around these busy areas to add more parking. Also, I learned that another school close by may have it even worse, even though they have far less students. Building more parking garages or even adding another 100 foot strip of scooter parking could make a difference in how students feel about the campus.