narrate PowerPoint

The parking problem has led to the increase of parking fees for vehicles that access the institution. Ideally, transportation services in the institution depend on funds generated from parking permit fees and fines to conduct maintenance and expansion since no vote head is allocated to such expenditure under tuition (Chan, Chau, & Chan, 2012). Markedly, an increase in the parking permit rates in the institution would strain the finances of students, which would affect the reputation of the university. In response, the institution has appointed the WSU Parking and Transportations Taskforce to investigate the issue and proffer solutions to the problem. Therefore, the parking crisis would be resolved through the development of practical recommendations from the task forces and by securing the full backing of the institution’s administration.

Methods

The main aim of the WSU Parking and Transportation Taskforce is to develop practical recommendations that would solve the parking problem and enhance the satisfaction of students. Therefore, the task force engaged willing students to provide their views on the parking problems in the institution and ways through which the setbacks could be handled. Besides, they asked a majority of students to submit emails of their views for further comparison to draw practical recommendations that would satisfy all the parties in the institution. Furthermore, the task force sought expert opinion from renowned structural engineers and planners on efficient ways of expanding the parking space in the institution to address the parking crisis. In essence, the meeting was essential as it helped provide the taskforce with viable information that would improve the chances of resolving the problem successfully.

The task force analyzed recommendations of the students while emphasizing those that were possible to implement. Moreover, they evaluated the proposals using views from members of the taskforce and professionals to ensure that they did not diverge from the advice of professionals. Inherently, the members of the task force visited the parking lots and surveyed the spaces adjacent to the institution. Additionally, they retrieved data on parking permits and fees levied from the Transportation Services building and analyzed the parking charges that have been imposed from the year 2016 up to date. Markedly, understanding of the parking fees levied to students was essential in noting the existent disparities to promote the financial wellbeing of students.

Results

The WSU Parking and Transportations taskforce engaged the students successfully in seeking their views regarding the parking crisis. A large percentage of the students who were consulted expressed their disappointment with the parking officials for their inefficiency and slow response to addressing the parking crisis. Inherently, they believed that the parking fees that were levied were sufficient to fund the program meant to expand the parking space to accommodate the rising number of students in the institution. Besides, the high parking fees levied strained the students’ financial resources, which adversely affected their welfare while on campus (Chan et al. (2012). Additionally, professional planners acknowledged the need to expand the parking space. Sargisson (2018) expresses that the expansion of parking spaces would enhance access to the public institution. Furthermore, a lack of adequate parking spaces would result in inconveniences and wastage of time as students and instructors attempted to access the institution (Michael et al., 2015). Members of the taskforce were displeased with the university’s organizational planning and highlighted the need to revise the design of the parking space to ensure it could accommodate additional vehicles. Markedly, results of the consultations augmented the effectiveness of the recommendations of the task force to handle the parking crisis.

Task 1: According to the Daily Evergreen, a proposed parking rate increase for the Washington State University’s Transportation Service will take effect on July 1 of 2020. This will result in fees ranging between 20 cents to $2.49 more for the annual passes and between 4 and 32 cents more for daily passes. This doesn’t seem much at first but over the long run, the daily passes will add up and produce a tremendous price. The proposed change came from the transportation task force that considered the price increases can help repair and maintain the 4 parking garages on the campus. The WSU budget plans suggests that there will be a total of $2.6 million in expenses such as maintenance, repairs, and replacements of parking facilities and improved garage parking lots. Since the Transportation Service at WSU doesn’t receive federal or state aid, it is understandable they would increase the rates to keep up with the maintenance. The daily parking permit has a price anywhere between $2.05 to $14.31 depending on the zones. For the annual parking permits. The annual parking permits range anywhere from $125 to $900. 

Task 2: Our next task after we looked at the financial decisions that WSU Transportation Services have made and the reasons behind them, we decided to assess the Pullman campus for unused/underused areas of land. The first set of land that is being underused is the Rogers-Orton soccer fields. That field is designed for recreational use but not a lot of events are taken place on the field according to an intramural soccer referee “Ryan Haisch”. He said that the field is never used because the field has poor quality grass and the field lines aren’t maintained properly. Since WSU has high quality soccer fields across the street, that is where the intramural games take place. Another area of land that is unused is the area around the baseball field. Referencing to the map, the blue areas are where the parking is. Around the Bailey-Brayton Field, there is a lot of space that can be used for parking. These two massive areas of land could host 500+ parking spots which can benefit the student body and the university as well. The parking rates would decline and more students would be more inclined to purchase a parking permit. 

 Task 3: We were lucky to interview three students who rely on their vehicle to get to class everyday. They go by the name of Aleks, Tyler, and Wyatt. All three of them live in different apartments and they don’t rely on the bus system because it doesn’t fit with their schedule, instead they drive themselves to school. We asked each individual similar questions.

Question 1: How do you feel about driving to class everyday and parking on campus?

Question 2: What are your thoughts on the parking permit rates?

Question 3: Do the parking permit rates offered by the university affect your financials?

Question 4: What do you think the university can do to improve your parking experience?

Question 5: Do you believe they should increase more parking spaces for their students?

After we asked the questions for each individual, they all gave similar responses. For the first question they all felt like driving to class everyday was a hassle at times. They would arrive late because the spots fill up and it’s difficult to find a spot right before class starts. For the second question, they all had negative thoughts on the parking rates because they believe the permits should be free because tuition is already expensive. For the third question, they all mentioned how the permit rates are negatively affecting their financials because they would have to sacrifice a little bit of money for food and personal expenditures to put into the cost of the parking permit. The fourth question, they all answered that they should lower the price of the permits or make it free. For the fifth question, they all like the idea of the university creating more parking spaces because it would be easier to find a spot and not be as stressed.