Let me walk you through a day in the life of someone with a resident parking pass: you get in your car after a long weekend at home, or perhaps a shift at work, and you are ready to find a parking spot before heading back to your dorm.
You drive to Lot A… no parking. But not to worry! You can drive to Lot D… where there is also no parking. Maybe Lot T? Is that one real? Or maybe you can park at Lot W and hope the buses are on schedule so you can make it back. But wait — why are people parked on the grass?
If that sounds familiar, you are not alone; parking at the University of Connecticut is one of the most complicated endeavors any student with a car takes on, but I am here to maybe make it simpler (or at the very least, help you understand where you will, in fact, get a ticket).
While getting a parking pass is as difficult as getting tickets to see Ariana Grande (yes, I failed), it is possible to do based on the schedule released on the Parking Services website.
All commuters are eligible to purchase parking passes to South Garage, Lot I East and lower Lot F, and Lots C, K and W where assigned.
The “where assigned” part gets tricky because a lot of the time, the signs are not as obvious as you want them to be. My advice? Pay attention to exactly what signs are above the parking spot you chose to ensure you are not about to be hit with a $40 ticket.
If you have 54 or more credits, you are eligible for the exclusive, one-of-a-kind resident parking pass, which is assigned to you based on your housing assignment if you live in Charter Oak, Hilltop and Northwood. Your parking pass does not include area 2 spots, but all other spots should be fair game (if worried, check for the sign that says “resident”).
A premium resident pass gives you the ability to park at North and Northwest, while a resident pass allows parking in Lots A, D, T, W and Hilltop apartments (where designated).
To purchase a parking permit, the parking website uploads a schedule that shows when and where the passes will be available. A student looking to purchase a resident parking pass, for example, will only be able to do so on the day passes are scheduled to go on sale.
Now here’s the real deal: the “what-gets-my-car-towed-or-booted” type of deal.
UConn has begun to enforce parking violations more strictly with the use of SmartBoots, which get locked on one of the wheels of your car if you have more than $200 in parking fees.
The SmartBoot has already been spotted across parking lots on campus and is provided to UConn by PayLock, whose website promises an install of less than 10 seconds and the ability to pay off the fees on a 24/7 basis.
But before you get the boot — literally — there are a few things that can happen if you park where you are not technically meant to be. First and foremost, the parking ticket.
The first ticket is meant to be a warning, but from talks on campus, the first tickets have allegedly just been charges of $20 to $40. The tickets can be paid through the Parking Services website, and if we follow this formula, five tickets of $40 equal the boot for your car.
According to the Parking Services website, parking is enforced from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. Permits are not required in most lots after 5 p.m., but are required in all resident and apartment lots and in other locations which have restricted parking 24/7.
My best advice is this: follow the signs. I know it’s gotten repetitive, but this is truly the thing that will help you avoid a ticket and park freely across campus. I’ll give an example: parking lot A is a resident and staff parking lot, however one strip of it is split into area 2 AND resident spots. Park one spot over the sign and bam — ticket.
The one “trick” you have is the ability to park in most lots after 5:00 p.m. and the fact that most lots only enforce parking on weekdays, which means that sometime, you may be able to find weekend parking for free. But take this with a grain of salt; this is based on the signs posted on lots and if they ticket in that lot on weekends. This is not a promise that you can park for free, nor is it encouraging you to not pay for parking.
Here’s another thing: if you do not have a parking pass, overnight parking might not be permitted. According to the Parking Services website, a vehicle parked on UConn property in one location (for a single parking session) for longer than 10 days without “the written permission or the atypical university permit authorization of Parking Services” is considered to be “stored” and can therefore be towed.
My final recommendation is this to make sure to read all the rules and regulations on the website and, most importantly, make sure you follow the signs and read up on exactly what is included and excluded from the specific permit you have.
I do sincerely hope that this article helped clarify some of the parking rules and regulations, and to all students who park at UConn: good luck and may the odds be in your favor.