Despite complaints from students regarding Parking and Transportation Services fines, the UA has lower parking violation fees than other Arizona public universities.
Many students park on campus using the parking Pay Stations, and if they are late to add more time to their parking space, they find themselves with a ticket or citation from PTS.
According to the PTS website, a citation has officially been issued at the point of a parking enforcement officer placing the parking citation on a vehicle windshield.
Mark Napier, associate director of operations for PTS, said that compared to other Arizona institutions, the parking fees at UA are less.
“If you look at our peer institutions, we are not higher — if you look at [Arizona State University] and other similar institutions, as far as parking costs go,” Napier said.
Taylor Burrows, a physiology senior, said there were two incidents when she received tickets from PTS. One occurred just last week when she parked behind Colonia de La Paz Residence Hall during a weekday before 9 p.m.
She also said she received a ticket from PTS last year in the Second Street Parking Garage for her car being over the line somewhat. However, Burrows said neither of these tickets had any monetary charges. Nicole Riberdy, a pre-public health freshman, said she was given a $500 ticket after parking and leaving her car running on Nov. 23.
Riberdy had left her car running and parked in a handicap spot in front of Coronado Residence Hall because she was carrying a large suitcase. She said when she returned to her vehicle within 5 minutes, there was a ticket for $500 with a date that read Jan. 1, 2009.
“[This was] completely wrong, so I have no way to appeal it, and I am not going to pay a ticket that says the wrong information,” Riberdy said.
The PTS website lists all of the citations and their fees, and when compared to other public universities in Arizona, parking citation fees cost less at the UA.
According to the citation fines schedule on the PTS website, a meter violation, for example, is a flat $50.
However, a similar search for ASU found that parking at an expired meter ranges from $15 to $100.
Tailgating, in which a vehicle attempts to trail behind another car to either gain access or to exit a parking structure without paying, has a fine of $400 at the UA. The fine for this violation at ASU falls in the range of $300 to $500.
The fee for failure to pay when leaving a parking garage for the UA is $8 for every garage, except Second Street, with a ticket. Without a ticket, the cost is $10 for failure to pay when exiting every garage, except Second Street. These fees for Second Street garage are $10 and $12, respectively. At ASU, the fee for failing to pay to exit a visitor lot is $15.
The most expensive citation fee for the UA is $500 for parking in a wheelchair access space. For ASU, the most expensive citation fee is also $500 for parking in a disability stall, but it is also the most an individual could be asked to pay for either tailgating or for damaged university property, such as broken gate arms.
Information regarding the citation fees for Northern Arizona University could not be found.
The information provided on these citation fees sections of the Parking and Transportation websites for both schools shows that for most citation fees, the UA’s costs do fall below ASU’s.
_______________
Follow Ariella Noth on Twitter.
