New Parking Permit Rates Announced

For the first time in three years, Duke parking permit rates will rise in August

May 25, 2012 | By Bryan Roth

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Durham, NC - For the first time in three years, Duke parking permit rates will increase as part of an ongoing effort to maintain parking facilities and cover operating costs.

Beginning in August, rates for employee parking permits for 2012-13 will go up from 70 cents to $9.75 per month depending on the type of permit. Rates will also increase slightly for undergraduate student permits and graduate student permits.

This will be the first rate increase since 2008-09 when officials first held rates flat to help reduce the financial impact of the recession on members of the Duke community.

During that period, Duke had to defer maintenance of certain parking lots and garages to manage expenses during the recession. As the maintenance issues have piled up the last few years, so have the costs to address them.

Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president of Duke administration, said those needs will have to be met through more significant investment over the next several years.

"The rate increase may well be the first of several increases over the next few years to address rising costs related to maintenance of parking lots and garages, leased space, and the increased demand for parking," he said. "Although no one is ever in favor of a rate increase, the challenge is providing a safe and accessible system at a reasonable cost."

Part of the rate increase will also help offset the price discrepancy between what a parking spot costs and what a student or employee actually pays for it.

"Over the years, Duke has absorbed a portion of the cost for things such as leasing lots to expand capacity for an ever-increasing number of people coming to campus each day," said Sam Veraldi, director of Parking and Transportation Services. "That practice isn't sustainable and ultimately limits the funds we have available to address other needs, such as ongoing maintenance."

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Comments

Also, if any favoritism is to be shown, it should be based not on income but on seniority. Give those with the most years at Duke (total time as student and/or employee) first dibs on parking in the individual departments respective lots.

Submitted by Brent Fallin on Thu, 2012-06-07 14:06

I understand Duke's need to cover parking maintenance, but why can't Duke charge parking fees based on salary brackets instead of making everyone pay the same amount? It is very unfair that those of us who make significantly less money than others who work in our building have to pay the same amount. I feel it's especially unfair to our temp workers who not only make the lease amount but also have no benefits. This is not like Duke to not consider this. Why has no one else spoken up about this inequality?

Submitted by Sara Jasinski on Thu, 2012-06-07 13:32

Duke parking rates are already obscene and have been so as long as I have worked for and been a student at Duke. The Duke parking system also allocates the limited parking resources very inefficiently, mainly due to the heavily centralized control over parking by the Duke Parking and Transportation Office. The local parking lot at my place of employment is often half-empty because there are not enough people who work in the immediate vicinity who can afford the premium lot prices to fill the spaces (i.e. spaces are undersold due to too high cost). Likewise, lower cost lots are massively oversold and you are lucky if you can even obtain a space without driving around the lot for 30 minutes, even with a permit. This situation could be somewhat remedied (at least with respect to the normal lots if not garages) by decentralizing control over parking at Duke. Let individual departments (i.e. Physics / Mathematics, Chemistry, DFELL, LSRC, etc.) manage their own lots and allocate parking and set fee schedules according to the needs of their students and faculty / staff. And let them take care of necessary repairs to those lots from their own funding. These lots really don't require much maintenance, at least not necessary maintenance.

Submitted by Brent Fallin on Thu, 2012-06-07 13:36

For me, there will be a 10% increase in parking costs, for a total of $75 more dollars per year, and I don't hold out hope of a corresponding increase in wages.

Submitted by Susan Conder on Fri, 2012-05-25 09:28