Parking costs going up

Sydney Taylor

Troy University student parking decals will increase in price by $25 in the fall of 2017. The decals will now cost $100 for students without the Troy University car tag and $25 for those who own the tag.

According to Ashli Morris, a junior political science major from Athens and Troy University Student Government Association president, the prices are increasing to pay for a new parking lot that will be constructed in the fall.

Herbert Reeves, dean of student services, said the decision to increase decal prices will fund the new parking lot across from the Trojan Center.

“The decision was made based on a recommendation from Student Services and Business and Finance as we plan to construct an additional 548 parking spaces in a new lot across from the Trojan Center,” Reeves said. “This lot will be student parking.

“In order to build a new lot, we had to have a funding plan in order to cover the construction costs of the additional parking.”

Reeves said that the parking lot project bid will be in May 2017. Construction is anticipated to begin in June 2017 and finish by October 2017.

However, some students feel that this price increase is the result of a lack of parking availability.

  “This might be a play by Troy’s administration to curb people buying parking decals for two reasons,” said Tyler Webber, a freshman music education major from Mobile. “The first reason is the removal of the Sartain parking lot for the building of the new Rec Center, and the second is because  Troy is wanting to have 10,000 students on campus, and they will not have the proper amount of parking spaces for those students.”

Morris said there is a potential for parking issues in the future due to the removal of the Sartain parking lot.

“Depending on the timing of breaking ground on the Student Recreation Center and the completion of the new parking lot, there could certainly be an issue,” said Morris. “We will not know how big of an issue this will be until we are closer to the time of construction.”

Others view the increase as adding to students’ pre-existing parking inconveniences.

“I think it’s a little ridiculous that we would have to pay $100 for parking, and I still have to show up 30 minutes before class to get a spot or plan my schedule around the most available parking times,” said Rachel Arnold, a sophomore graphic design major from LaGrange, Georgia. “Plus its not fair to out-of-state students because last time I tried, I couldn’t buy a Troy tag in my county because they are only available in Alabama.”

Morris is encouraging students to utilize Transloc, an app released in the fall of 2016 which offers students real-time tracking of the university’s bus systems, to reduce parking congestion.

“In an effort to combat this potential (parking) issue, we are encouraging all students to use the Transloc app and make the best use of our transit system so that fewer cars are traveling to campus,” Morris said.  “Additionally, buses will be periodically transporting students from outer lots on campus, such as the Trojan Arena parking lot, to locations close to the heart of campus.”

Reeves said the faculty and staff decal prices will not be increasing.