The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees on Friday approved funding increases to support and enhance TransPark services.
The changes include increases to current fees for all categories of parking permits and the implementation of a new transit fee for students, faculty and staff. The fee increases will generate an additional $800,000 annually.
The university sought to alter its fee structure for transit services after the Wyoming State Legislature did not approve a $1.4 million operational funding request during its recently-concluded session, says Mark Collins, UW associate vice president for administration.
"Over the past several years, UW TransPark has significantly increased its transit services in order to improve mobility, increase ridership and reduce parking demand on and adjacent to campus," says Collins. "This year, TransPark spent its existing reserves of $600,000 to initiate two new shuttle routes and increase frequencies and headways on existing routes. The expanded transit options have been extremely well received by the UW community with an overall increase of 76 percent in ridership from 2008 to 2009."
But, he adds, "As an auxiliary unit that primarily relies on internally generated funds for its ongoing operations, TransPark must raise rates to maintain its existing level of service to the UW campus."
The cost of faculty and staff parking permits will increase 36 percent annually, from $132 to $180, and student parking permits by 33 percent, from $90 to $120.
The hourly price for parking meters will jump from 50 cents to $1.
Also, UW will implement a $180 annual fee for UW Service permits, which are now free. The cost for contractor/vendor parking permits will double from $132 to $264 per year.
The new fee structure also includes a $40 annual transit fee for students, beginning this fall, and a $40 per year cost for faculty/staff bus passes.
To develop its recommendation to trustees, UW TransPark conducted a survey of comparative institutions and "found that our proposed rates would still place us at or below those respective fee structures," says Collins.
Posted on Friday, May 08, 2009