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.