GSS is proposing large expansions to parking services and Athens transit.
Graduate Student Senate is working on a policy that could overhaul public transportation and parking on campus.
The proposed policy would increase the cost for an annual parking permit for faculty and students. It would expand the Campus Area Transit Service, offer a bike share service, bike station, synchronized mass transit system and a universal bus pass.
Hashim Pashtun, GSS vice president for administration and finance, said the campus’ current transportation system includes limited parking, traffic congestion and parking costs.
“Day by day, the parking demand is getting more and the parking available is decreasing,” Pashtun said.
After looking at the problems, he said, he saw a need for a policy update.
“Hashim’s proposal is desperately needed,” GSS President Carl Edward Smith III said in an email.
Limiting parking encourages students to purchase parking passes, Pashtun said.
Parking permits start at $125, according to the university’s website.
“The attitude should be (the) opposite ... we have to tell them, ‘Just use the parking spot for two hours, get your things done and go back or leave the spot,’ ” Pashtun said.
Included in the policy proposal an increased parking pass fee.
“The proposed policy for a parking permit fee adjustment is based on results from an OU parking research study that showed that one-fourth of commuting students live just a five minute walk from their nearby Athens Public Transit bus stop,” Smith said.
The proposed policy would deny a student who lived close to public transportation a parking permit or charge him or her extra.
“For students, the priority will be the farther the student, the cheaper the parking pass should be because they have no other choice,” Pashtun said.
“For faculty and staff, what we are looking at is salary,” Pashtun said. “Currently, President Roderick McDavis and some staff are paying the same amount, but it should not be. It should be based on salary.”
The current cost for parking passes is $150 for commuters, $250 or more for residents and $135 for faculty and staff.
The increase would be no more than $10 to 20 per year, Pashtun said.
“Our main agenda is not making money, our main agenda is providing (an) efficient, economical and sustainable transportation system,” Pashtun said. “The rest of the amount, if we increase the parking passes, we are planning on getting from (the) general fee, but we will try our best not to ask the students to increase the general fee, but make some room within that available general fee by taking it from Athletics or other parts.”
Pashtun hopes to present his policy to all five senate bodies — Graduate Student Senate, International Student Union, Student Senate, Faculty Senate and Classified Senate — by the end of the academic year.
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