By MARTY LEVINE
Pitt parking administrators used a March 6 Staff Council spotlight session to reveal the results of a survey of 6,200 members of the Pitt community – 43 percent of them staff members – and talk about several expected improvements to everyone’s commute.
Kevin Sheehy, assistant vice chancellor for auxiliary operations and finance, said Pitt has plans to replace the 390 parking spaces now unavailable due to the removal of the O’Hara Parking Garage and the blocking of some spaces on University Drive for construction – but such plans are still being finalized.
Jonathan Pearson, director of mobility, assured that the university has no plans to eliminate the free bus and light rail services now offered through Pittsburgh Regional Transit.
He also said that Pitt hopes to introduce transient parking on campus and is working on a system where members of the Pitt community can reserve select spots for a day and even mid-day.
“We thought shared and fixed-day permits would be more popular when they were introduced on campus,” he added, because the former allow two to three drivers to split a week of parking, each choosing specific days, and the latter allow one driver to pay for just a few days a week. He suggested that departments could receive presentations from his office on these options and work with his office to maximize their use.
The university plans to switch to license plate recognition technology to track those entering parking garages, instead of the current tag, in the future, he also announced.
Sheehy noted that the university still needs to find more and better ways to serve commuters outside of Allegheny County and that the university plans to “explore a pilot satellite shuttle route directly to campus” from an area “with challenging transit trips.”
Vanpools are one current option, Pearson said: The service now also offers a smaller five- to seven-passenger van (as opposed to the original eight- to 12-passenger van). Eight vanpools are currently seeking members: Belle Vernon/Rostraver; Monroeville; Robinson; Irwin; McMurray; New Kensington; Sewickley; Canonsburg/Washington.
Pearson also reported that 250 drivers have been offered parking permits from the still long waiting list for parking permits.
Commuter survey results
Day(s) of the week for your normal commute to campus:
4914 answers
Monday-Thursday: 69.5-75.4 percent
Friday: 60.7 percent
Saturday-Sunday: 0.7-9.6 percent
Round Trips to Campus on a Normal Day:
4923 answers
1: 87.6 percent
2: 9.6 percent
3+: 2.8 percent
Stops on your commute:
4800 responses
Orders: 36.9 percent
K-12 school: 9 percent
Childcare: 8 percent
Leaving someone: 7.8 percent
Picking someone up: 6.7 percent
Others: 3.7 percent
Top Campus Destination:
4950 responses
Cathedral of Learning: 6.8 percent
Salk Hall: 5.5 percent
Scaife Hall: 5.1 percent
Benedum Hall: 5.1 percent
Posvar Hall: 4.6 percent
Public health buildings: 3.6 percent
Biomedical Science Tower 1: 2.7 percent
Victoria Hall: 2.7 percent
Biomedical Science Tower 3: 2.6 percent
All other buildings: Less than 2 percent each
How to reach the campus:
3717 responses
Single-seat car: 48.9 percent
Public transport/shuttles: 18.2%.
Walking, bicycles, scooters: 7.9 percent
Car sharing: 6.1 percent
No commuting – telecommuting: 19.1 percent
Why choose to drive yourself:
3120 responses
The schedule calls for it: 54 percent
Commitments before/after coming to campus: 50.9 percent
Public transport takes too long: 49.8 percent
Live too far away: 33.9 percent
No public transport in my area: 21.3 percent
Where your vehicle is parked:
3339 answers
Pitt owned space: 57.2 percent
Street: 22.1%.
Public garage or lot: 19.3 percent
Varies: 12.6 percent
Others: 7.5 percent
Private parking agreement: 7.2 percent
Park and Ride: 4.3 percent
Pitt Parking Permit:
Yes: 57.8 percent
No: 42.2 percent
Flexible organization of work:
2623 answers
Yes: 67.6 percent
Of them (1766 answers):
Work remotely 2-3 days a week: 46.2 percent
Variable schedule: 19.4 percent
Always work remotely: 13.8 percent
Work remotely 1 day a week: 8.6 percent
Work remotely 4 days a week: 8.4 percent
Other parking statistics:
Pre-pandemic campus seats: 4,722
Current campus spaces: 4,332 (excluding O’Hara Garage and some parking on University Drive)
Parking permits, currently: staff and faculty, 2,611; students, 771
Number on waiting list: 3358
Park Mobile spaces on campus: 376
Marty Levin is a University Times contributor. Contact him at [email protected] or 412-758-4859.
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