Parking simpler and less expensive for many employees

For many faculty and staff at Carolina, parking will soon be less expensive. Those with salaries under $70,000 (59% of University employees) will pay less to park when the new ordinance on parking and campus transportation approved by the University Board of Trustees goes into effect Aug. 1.

The overall changes emphasize affordability and simplicity. The number of price points for employees went from 72 to 13, and gated and ungated lots are priced the same. Student parking is also less expensive, and employees will pay a new flat rate of $200 for weeknight parking and sustainable commuting options. Transportation and Parking is a receipt-supported enterprise that is dependent on parking and transportation fees. Employees making more than $100,000, campus visitors and those attending special events will pay higher rates to offset the decreases that other employees receive.

Nate Knuffman, Carolina’s vice chancellor for finance and operations and chief financial officer, spoke with caiyo.net about the changes and the process behind them.

What brought about these changes?

It’s part of the five-year Transportation and Parking plan. Every five years, we go through an extensive process where we bring in a consultant. The process takes over a year – we started in February of 2023. The consultant is involved to help us do extensive data analysis and stakeholder engagement and assessment.

How much feedback was received from campus and from whom? How was the feedback used?

When you’re on a campus like this, the stakeholders are numerous — the Chancellor’s Office, the Provost’s Office, Athletics, Student Affairs. We have academic school representation, Employee Forum, Faculty Council, Graduate and Undergraduate Government. We also have the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health very involved.

These groups are part of the Advisory Committee on Transportation and Parking. This ACT group got together, and they would routinely lift up bigger updates and policy questions to the Executive Sponsor Group, which is more the vice chancellor- and provost-level representation from those groups. It’s very healthy feedback.

Why was it important to prioritize parking affordability and simplicity?

We’re interested in our employees, staff and everyone who intersects with our parking system being able to navigate that easily. It was becoming difficult to navigate when you have that many price points to understand. That 78 is now down to 13, which is a big deal in terms of simplification. We think it’ll be more efficient. We’re here to serve the campus and its needs, and we’re proud of that work. We did this in a revenue-neutral way. We had all those stakeholders around the table thinking about how to find that balance with equity in mind. It’s sizable what that decrease is for those employees. Generally, if you’re paid under $70,000 per year, you are getting up to a 50% reduction in your cost for parking, which I think is an incredible achievement for the plan.

Parking costs for visitors and those attending University events are rising. Why?

If there are ways we can protect our workforce and shift some of that burden of operating our parking system onto those who are visiting or at events — not in a disproportionate way, but in a way that better reflects the market — we thought it was a responsible thing to do. That was where the ACT landed, and ultimately the Board of Trustees endorsed that strategy.

Carolina’s executive director of transportation and parking, Cheryl Stout, led the process, and she’s soon retiring after 35 years at Carolina. What can you say about her impact?

She’s just been a fantastic leader. She has an incredible depth of expertise about the Transportation and Parking system and cares tremendously. She understands the finances, the people, the campus and the role Transportation and Parking plays here. They’ll be very tough shoes to fill.