Ashley Khamtrashyan
Assistant Editor
Texas A&M University-San Antonio sold out of parking permits for Lot 1, Lot 2 and Lot 3 on Aug. 8, according to an email from parking and transportation.
Students, faculty and staff who still need to purchase a permit can only buy City Lane parking passes.
Director of university services Janae Johnson said Lot 3 never sold out last fall, however, a total of 2,634 permits have been sold this semester to A&M-San Antonio commuters.
“I think it’s more of an increase of the realization that you need a permit to come to campus,” Johnson said.
According to parking and transportation services, Lot 2 permits sold out the same day they went on sale Aug. 8
“Lot 2 typically sells out the first day.” Johnson said. “That’s why we sent four emails announcing when parking permits would go on sale to allow everyone time to coordinate their schedules to try to get the permit that they wanted.”
According to the parking and transportation services team and university leadership, they are exploring all options to alleviate parking challenges on campus.
Johnson says parking and transportation anticipates more permits for spring 2024.
“I am definitely focused on equity, because as a higher institution we need faculty, staff and students to exist successfully,” Johnson said.
Faculty Senate President Leonard Love said the Senate is going to do what they can to address the parking situation this semester during the university’s convocation ceremony Aug. 24.
“It’s unfortunate if a student can’t find a place to park and is late to class,” Love said. “However, it’s a real problem if an instructor can’t find a place to park and everyone then misses class.”
Currently, the only designated parking area for the student residents is Lot 1.
“Lot 1 is split 60% for student residents and 40% for employees,” Johnson said.
Johnson said her office has taken steps to alleviate the parking situation.
“One of the things we enacted this year was a night permit,” Johnson said. “It basically allowed us to double the capacity that is available in Lot 2.”
Lot 2 has a total of 886 parking spaces, but Johnson said there are now over 1,600 available permits since implementing night passes.
“In addition to the night permits, there will be a feasibility study to assess the need and cost of an additional parking lot,” Johnson said.
Multiple disabled parking spaces were also removed after parking and transportation received feedback that those spaces were never fully occupied.
Johnson said the university had an over abundance of disabled spots. According to regulations, the university is supposed to have 18 disabled parking spots, but A&M-San Antonio had 126 disabled parking spaces last year.
If needed, employees are able to request medical accommodations through Human Resources and students can request medical accommodations through Disability Support Services.
Commuters also have the option of taking public transportation to travel to campus.
“Although the VIA bus route that was previously serving A&M-SA got discontinued by VIA, it was replaced by the VIA Link U-Pass program,” Johnson said.
Citations will be given to those who do not purchase a parking permit and park on campus. Citations range from $25 to $300, depending on the class.
“The most common citation that we issue is parking without a permit, which is $60,” Johnson said.
Citation fees have remained the same, and there are late fees if they are not paid on time.
“As of this semester, there have been 57 warnings given out,” Johnson said. “Citations will now be given out to vehicles without a parking pass. Last fall, there was a significantly less amount of citations given because there was not a full-time enforcer until Feb. 2023.”
According to the Disabled and Decorated Veterans on the parking and transportation webpage, A&M-San Antonio strives to be a Military Embracing campus, therefore, all disabled and decorated veterans are exempted from parking permit fees.
Johnson says the parking and transportation advisory committee always welcomes any feedback from students, faculty and staff.
For more information or to leave feedback, visit the parking and transportation website.
