The Parking and Transportation Committee met monthly during the months of September 2001 through April 2002 with the exception of January 2002.

Committee Members are as follows:

Committee Members Ex-Officio
Marylin Berger, Biology Bill Collier, Parking & Community Service Office
Colleen DiIorio, SPH Erick Gaither, Business Office
Leslie Greer, Emory Clinic Harris Holmes, Parking & Community Service Ofc
Lynn Magee, Provost Office Hector Morales, Campus Planning & Construction
Caryn Marks, SGA Brian Shaw, Alternative Transportation
Gail Mooney, Employee Council Phil Sauerbrun, Parking & Community Service Ofc
Rosalyn Page, History
Art Platt, Facilities Mgmt
Ashley Smith, Student, Emory College
Elbert Stringer, Emory Hospitals
Kim Turner, Goizueta
Maria Yazbak, ITD

The committee established its FY 2001-2002 committee goals as follows:

· Continue to investigate the feasibility of implementing a parking rates structure that would find higher rates for larger vehicles.
· Continue to work with and improve working relations with Campus Planning and Construction as it relates to our approving new projects on campus.
· Continue to improve upon the parking appeals process

The committee is pleased to report that it met all of its goals for 2001-02 and has the following to report on each subject:

· Continue to investigate the feasibility of implementing a parking rates structure that would find higher rates for larger vehicles.

We created a sub-committee led by Lynn Magee to investigate this subject. The sub-committee did a lot of surveying of peer institutions and could find no support for implementing a system where the size of your vehicle determined the parking rate you are charged on campus. The sub-committee therefore recommended that this issue be dropped and that other incentives to encourage the purchase and use of more environmentally friendly vehicles be explored as an alternative. To that extent, the Office of Alternative Transportation proposed the following which was approved by the committee at its meeting on April 4th:

POLICY FOR PARKING ALTERNATIVELY FUELED AND HYBRID VEHICLES

To encourage the use of environmentally friendly vehicles and help with Atlanta’s air quality challenges, Emory University is adding a new parking category. This new category will allow Emory University staff, faculty and students who have a certified alternatively fueled (electrical, CNG, or propane) and/or hybrid vehicle to park in specially designated spaces.

Parking spaces will be added in decks as needed. Spaces will be designated with a sign that is to be used only by alternatively fueled and/or hybrid vehicles. These spaces will be reserved for these vehicles only 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Registered parkers with an alternatively fueled or hybrid vehicle can request a special sticker to put on their existing hangtag to be able to park in one of these spaces. The parking rate for using one of these spaces will remain the same as the applicable zone rate. Spaces will be available on a first come, first served basis.

Vehicles parking in these spaces that violate this requirement would be subject to ticketing and/or towing. Electric vehicles would also be allowed to park in these spaces in addition to parking in spaces with charging stations. However, only electric vehicles would be allowed to use parking spaces equipped with vehicle chargers.

Signs would be done with white letter on a green background, similar to most electric vehicle parking signs.

· Continue to work with and improve working relations with Campus Planning and Construction as it relates to our approving new projects on campus.

Unfortunately the committee did not make much progress in this area. Our desire to review and received an update on the entire University’s Master Plan as it relates to planning and construction did not happen this year. We will continue to work with the University Campus Planning and Construction unit of Facilities Management to provide this very necessary review of the entire plan instead of individual projects, as they are ready for construction.

The committee did review and approve the Yerkes Parking Deck and Road Improvements project which is scheduled to begin in May 2002.

· Continue to improve upon the parking appeals process

The committee has made major breakthroughs in managing the appeals process in a more timely and efficient manner. Written appeals are being processed at the end of every monthly meeting as time permits. This system has us up-to-date on appeals as we are now reviewing written appeals in the month following receipt of the appeal. As of April 2002 we have reviewed all appeals received through March 15th. We are very pleased with this progress as it means that constituents are receiving more timely responses to their written appeals.

In-person appeals are still being heard on an as needed basis, which usually occurs monthly. We are continuing to encourage committee members to participate in this process as it makes the decision-making much easier when more than just one or two committee members are present.

In addition to the accomplishments listed above, the committee also approved the following additions to the Parking Rules and Regulations:

1. Add as Rule number 31:

Campus parking decks are open for parking on the weekends and generally after 4:00 p.m. on weekdays with the exception of Lowergate, the Physician and 1525 Clifton road Decks. All vehicles must park in the assigned deck or appropriate zoned street spaces between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. During the week unauthorized vehicles must vacate the decks by 6:00 a.m.

Rationale: This makes an unwritten rule official and provides a basis for enforcing fines for non-compliance

2. Changes in the Guidelines for Student Registration

a. Students assigned to housing at the Clairmont Campus are provided parking adjacent to their residence and may only park in decks on the main campus on weekends and after 4:00 p.m. on weekdays.

Rationale: Students living at the Clairmont Campus will park in adjacent parking decks and will be able to park on campus from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. of the following day.

b. Students are strongly encouraged to place parking registration charges on their student account.

Rationale: Allows for better accounting for students and parents; easier and quicker to process a refund; net savings to University due to reduced credit card fees, currently 2-3% of total amount (approximately $5,000 based on last year’s student registration and all student accounts would be billed at the same time in September.

PARKING and COMMUNITY SERVICE

The following is a partial list of projects implemented by Parking and Community Services in the past year:

· Automatic parking renewal for faculty/staff

· Reconfigured B. Jones parking lot to accommodate more visitor spaces due to Science 2000 project.

· Added 90 visitor parking spaces at Michael Street deck

· Reconfigured S. Kilgo Drive behind Carlos Museum to two way street due to bridge being unable to handle heavy auto traffic.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION

Accomplishments:
· Started 3 new vanpools
· Launched shared car program
· Made changes to shuttle routes A and C which have resulted in more frequent operation (net increase for each shuttle 33%)
· Signed agreement with MARTA to fuel CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) shuttles at Laredo depot
· Acquired two electric Th!nk neighbor vehicles for use by EPD and Community Services
· Awarded $40,000 University Rideshare grant to be used to encourage student carpooling
· Installed electric charging stations at Peavine and Clairmont Campus decks
· Recognized as a certified Commuter Choice Leadership employer by the US EPA
· Receive a proclamation from Georgia DOT for Emory’s alternative transportation programs.

Challenges:

· MARTA threatened to cut route 6 service on Sundays. Lead letter writing and advocacy campaign to save route. Result – modified route now operates on Sundays.
· Cost of MARTA passes increased – continue to work with area TMAs to jointly buy passes to get lower discount
· Vanpool dissolved – TMA (Transportation Management Association) subsidy was discontinued, as funding is not yet available. Result – vanpool from Buford broke up to carpools, as costs were too high without subsidy.
· Electric buses – protest issued by vendor who lost the bid, delaying the process to execute a contract with winning vendor.
· CNG station – contract to build CNG station at shuttle depot delayed, could be executive by the summer.

PROGRAM STATUS

MARTA: An average of 1,200 monthly MARTA cards are distributed to Emory employees each month. Emory students purchased an average of 75 discounted MARTA cards

Rideshare (carpool/vanpool): The number of employees ridesharing has grown from 399 in September to 436 in February a 9% increase.

Shuttle: An average of 186,000 people each month rode Emory’s shuttles between September and February.

Report Submitted by:

Kim Turner, Chair, Parking and Transportation Committee
April 22, 2002