Parking and Transportation Services is planning to alter the parking permit sign-up process, parking rates and lot designations this upcoming year, to keep up with inflating costs, construction and to lower congestion on campus.

“We had a lot of people who would go check the closest lot, find there wasn’t a spot, go to the next closest and check that there wasn’t a spot there, so we were creating a situation where people were just driving around quite a bit,” said David Heineking, director of PTS.

To lower congestion and parking frustration, Zone One parking areas, south of Speedway Boulevard, and near the center of campus, will become “lot specific parking areas,” according to Heineking. Following this change, drivers will need a permit to park in these designated areas.

This decision came after PTS heard feedback from numerous people, who said they don’t leave campus during the day, for fear of losing their parking spot, Heineking said.

Ryan Teefy, a communication freshman, said he doesn’t have a permit but he understands this concern, even though he parks off-campus.

“I can’t leave all day or else I lose my spot,” Teefy said.

Teefy also said he believes a way to improve parking on campus would be to remove permit parking from several side streets off-campus, allowing for less restrictions on where people can leave their cars.

For faculty who park on campus, employees on payroll deduction with parking permits must re-register this year for a permit, as opposed to automatic renewal, which has been done for several years. This is to help update employee contact information.

In addition to re-registering, a “majority” of permits will increase by $1 per month compared to this year.

“We try to do things very frugally so that we’re not passing on a whole lot of costs as much as we can help it,” Heineking said.

This slight increase will go toward helping PTS pay for maintenance, gas and other repairs. The added money will also go toward upholding PTS services such as CatTran, Zimride and Car Share, among others, according to Heineking.

Zimride is a service that allows students to organize carpools or find rides from others traveling to a location, while Car Share is a service that allows members of the campus community to rent cars at an hourly rate.

“We try to provide as many options as possible for all the different varieties of people that are on campus,” said Bill Davidson, manager of public information and marketing for PTS. “It fits basically everyone’s budget and lifestyle.”