Students have many options when it comes to parking on campus, but they may not understand the rules behind them all.

For example, students may not know that anyone with a student parking pass can park in any carpool-reserved spot after 11 a.m.

One sign outside Parking Structure I says the carpool spots – nearly 120 in Structure I and 90 in Structure III – are open to student permits after 11 a.m. Students who never park in that parking structure would never see the sign, and would not understand they won’t be ticketed for parking in a carpool spot after 11 a.m.

Similarly, staff parking spots are open to all permit types after 4:30 p.m. Though more than one lot has staff parking in it, only one sign on campus advertises this rule.

Why are carpool spots only reserved until 11 a.m.?

Assistant Director of University Transportation and Parking ServicesFreddy Orozco said peak parking hours are in the morning from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. In order to create incentives for students to carpool, he said, the spots were designed to reserve easy parking close to thecenter of campus for people who consistently come to school with morethan one person in the car.

Another incentive to carpool to school is that there are more than 200 reserved spots on campus.

Students complained when some carpool parking spots by the dorms were removed last semester, Orozco said. In response, UTAPS doubled the number of carpool spaces. Most of those were added to the firstfloor of Structure III.

Another parking option is “convenience parking” – choice spots on the ground floor. If a student is late for class, they can pay to park close to the center of campus.

Convenience parking has been moved to the first floor of Structure I, from its location in Structure III last semester.

Danial Martin, who works for Neumann Enterprises, said the service wasmore popular in Structure I because it’s closest to the center of campus.

Convenience parking shares spaces with carpool-reserved spots between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day. In order to park in convenience-reserved spots without paying the $3 fee, students need to have a carpoolpermit.

Some students, however, park in carpool spots without a permit, Martin said.

“Convenience parking is way better than getting a ticket,” he said. “I see a lot of students who just park in the carpool spots (without a permit).” Students said they’d rather get a ticket than pay $3 forconvenience parking, he said, “then they get a ticket and they’re all pissed off. It’s funny to watch.”

Martin said Tuesdays and Thursdays are his busiest days. He can have anywhere from 15 to 50 customers in a day. Of all customers, only about three people take advantage of his valet parking service.

He said one advantage of convenience parking is being able to directtraffic off campus during traffic congestion.

“I don’t mind helping out and directing traffic, if things get congested,” Martin said.

Senior accounting major Cara Sanchez said it was easy to get her carpool pass because all she needed to do was go into the UTAPS office with her passengers to apply for the permit.

To apply for a carpool permit, students should go to the UTAPS office, located at 7667 Folsom Blvd. Instead of driving to the off-campus office, students can take a shuttle from campus to the UTAPS buildingfour times a day at 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Lacey Waymire can be reached at [email protected].