New parking policies set in motion

The UW-River Falls Parking Department is looking into making future changes to the prices of parking citations on campus, as well as charging for summer parking permits.

The Parking Department is researching citation amounts in order to keep consistent with the City of River Falls and other UW schools. Wendy Penny, the operations program associate for the UWRF Police Department and Parking, said that there has been talk about the possibility of increasing prices of citations on campus.

Christian Rhinevault, a freshman at UWRF, has mixed feelings about the possibility of a price increase.

“I don’t necessarily think that students are going to be more careful about where they park and how much they feed the meter if the price of parking tickets goes up,” Rhinevault said. “I think they are trying to make some extra money off of it, and it might just encourage more students to walk to places instead of drive if possible.”

Any change in citation amounts or escalation fees would become effective in the fall of 2014.

“A $5 increase doesn’t sound like much right now, but if students get a lot of citations it could start to add up, and people might start watching where they park and for how long,” Rhinevault said.

The talk of increased parking citations is not the only thing that is being discussed by the Parking Department on campus.

“Parking permits will be required in student lots beginning summer of 2014,” Penny said.  “The cost of the permit would be $2 per day, and students, employees and visitors will have the ability to purchase them online.”

Students will be able to purchase permits for the academic year that do not expire until Aug. 31, or can purchase permits just for the summer. Both of these permits would be valid in any student permit space.

Lauren Klossner, a student at UWRF, is considering commuting for summer classes in 2014.

“I’m not sure if I will save money or not by purchasing a summer parking permit, or paying the meters on campus,” Klossner said. “I guess I will have to wait and see.”

The possibility of charging for permits to park in student permit spaces during breaks such as J-term and spring break is also being discussed.

“I think the summer parking permits is a good move on the Parking Department’s behalf and could benefit students as well,” Klossner said.  “If students just buy the permits then they don’t have to worry about how many quarters to feed the meter and having to stress over getting parking tickets.”

The Parking Department urges students to remember that these permits are non-transferrable and should not be given to anyone else to use. The use of a parking permit by anyone other than the registered purchaser will result in a fine, revocation, confiscation and possibly prosecution for theft under Wisconsin State Statutes.

More detailed information about the possible parking citation price increase and summer parking permits will be available at uwrf.edu/parking  this coming spring.