If you’re still circling parking lots looking for an empty spot, you’re in luck.
The university has identified 600 additional parking spaces located in Blossom Street Garage, Bull Street Garage, Senate Street Garage and Athletic Village Garage through a series of site surveys that measured traffic patterns and parking site usage.
“Now that we know that we have spaces available for people to reserve, they may not be in the exact garage you want to be in, they may not be in the exact lot you want to be in, but they’re there,” university spokesman Wes Hickman said.
Hickman is urging students to change their view of parking, just as the university has changed its view towards facilities on campus. He said in a press release that students and faculty need to look at parking through the filter of “modern, efficient, sustainable” principles.
“I think that the important thing to do is for people to recognize that we are a growing and thriving campus and we are situated in the midst of a thriving urban environment,” Hickman said. “The city along with the university, we’re both growing. It’s an exciting thing.”
The university’s mindset for the parking in the future includes four aspects: parking, mass transit, pedestrian avenues and bike avenues. Hickman encourages parking and mass transit to be considered as “two sides of the same coin.”
The university has recently focused on enhancing each of these aspects. They have improved bike avenues on Greene Street and pedestrian avenues on Assembly Street.
Outside of the university itself, the Comet transit line launched the Garnet Route at the beginning of the school year that transports students from the campus area to apartment complexes. They also have a downtown circulator.
South Carolina is planning to continue to improve mass transit opportunities in the near future, and Hickman is hoping that students embrace their efforts.
“With parking, the ability in a large growing urban environment to park right outside of the building you need to be in and walk right in — we can’t do that anymore,” Hickman said. “We have to realize that it really functions as a holistic look at things. It’s not just where can I park my car. It’s where I need to park and how I can get to where I need to go from there.”
Parking garages, although they come at a higher cost to build and maintain, also provide a higher density of parking. This is one way that the university is working to have an efficient parking situation. They are also working on making more daily spaces available. A daily spot turns over an average of three times a day, which is much more efficient than the reserved spot that only services one student.
Hickman additionally explained that this year is a transition year for the university. He stated that they are working at the root of the problem by attempting to alleviate some of the daily commuter needs. The Hub and other residential locations that are being built near the heart of campus are making daily commuting less necessary for those residents, and the university hopes to build parking for residents as they expand housing options in western part of campus.
“We have to rethink the way we look at parking, recognize that there are spaces available and realize that this is a transition year,” Hickman said. “We’re tight but comfortable, and we’ll relieve some of that with new residence halls. We have new classroom buildings coming online as well.”