Nothing can entirely eliminate the daily scenario - cars slowly circling campus for an open parking stall, like buzzards.
But parking managers at the University of Utah hope that providing free bus passes will come close to the ideal, low-cost cure for parking paralysis."We're at a point now where if this doesn't work we will have to do something drastic," said Leonard Romney, vice president of administrative services.
Next week the U.'s Board of Trustees will consider a proposed deal between the U. and the Utah Transit Authority. Under UTA's "deep discount program," the U. would pay $512,000 for bus passes for 37,000 students, faculty and staff.
If it works during the one-year trial period, bus passes will then be offered at a discount in the future.
University officials said if at least 500 motorists who park on campus switch to the bus, the program will be a success. "If we get 1,000 or more to take a bus, our parking problems would disappear," said parking director Alma Allred.
According to his calculations, about 30,000 trips are made to campus every day by people riding in vehicles. He said 1,000 more spaces would be available daily if each student, teacher and employee took the bus one day a week.
That's the rationale behind spending more than $500,000 of the U.'s maintenance surplus on bus passes. The alternatives are a $10 million enclosed parking terrace for 1,000 vehicles, or a distant outdoor lot costing $1,000 per stall, Romney said.
Parking at the U. is near capacity with about 300 vacant spaces at peak periods of the school week. Those spaces are on the outskirts of campus. Allred said those vacant spaces should go quickly in January when construction of a languages and communication building will eliminate parking east of Orson Spencer Hall.
But persuading students and others to leave their car at home and take the bus won't be easy. An informal survey of students and faculty by the campus newspaper found support uncertain. Students and faculty repeated what many Salt Lake County residents have complained about for years: bus service isn't convenient enough to offset the hassles of fighting traffic.
UTA and the U. hope to win mass transit converts with a publicity campaign that will include customer service booths around campus, where students can pick up a bus pass sticker, brochures and schedules.
According to its "deep discount" policy, UTA does not increase its service as part of a discount package. In other words, UTA must break even in cutting a deep discount deal.
UTA spokesman Bill Barnes said that shouldn't be a problem with 19 bus routes serving the university from locations throughout the valley. And another route from South Towne Center in Sandy will begin in December.
"It's the second best served area in the valley, I would guess, next to downtown," Barnes said. "There's not much of an excuse not to use (the bus)."
To supplement UTA service, the university will add two more shuttle buses and integrate them with UTA schedules to more efficiently get students to and from either end of the sprawling campus.
If the bus pass test doesn't work, the "drastic" alternatives mentioned by Romney include a multimillion terrace paid for by parking fees.
"We would have to charge $80 to $90 a month to cover (the cost of) a terrace. Now parking is $25 a year," Allred said.