To:       Chairs/Directors and Departmental Administrators

From:   Christopher J. Bruhn, Assistant Dean

            L&S Parking Coordinator

Re:       2004-05 Parking Information

The process for applying for 2004-05 parking (September 1, 2004 to August 31, 2005) begins on Friday, April 30.   The application period is from April 30 to May 28.  All applications must be submitted via the Transportation Services web based Parking Application System (PAS). 

The purpose of this memo is to provide you with information that is intended to supplement what you will receive from Transportation Services (TS) on April 30th as well as what is available on their web site.  The L&S web site has a page devoted to parking information, frequently asked questions, waiting list information and L&S parking policies.  Please share information provided in this memo or on the web pages with anyone in your department who needs, or might need, parking in 2004-05.  If you have any questions about the information, please contact me at 3-0300 or by email at You may also reach my student assistant Leah at  

In order to keep this memo as brief as possible, I will provide links to TS web pages as appropriate and otherwise provide information here that is particularly important or unique to L&S faculty and staff applicants.  (At the writing of this memo, some TS web addresses are not yet available.  I will send subsequent email updates as information becomes available.) 

The major components of this memo are as follows:

Expanded List of Important Dates to Remember:

April 30 - May 28

May 28

July 16

July 30

Letter sent to those who have not responded to the email assignment notice

August 20

Second run of assignments made from the waiting lists.

Flex meter distribution.

New permits must be displayed on vehicles parked on campus. ONE hangtag permit available to each permit holder. A front windshield hangtag holder is available from Transportation Services, as is a single sticker if you bring only one car to campus.

Third run of assignments made from the waiting list.

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2004-05 Application Permit Process Issues

Late Applicants        

Please inform faculty/staff hired in the coming months of the parking deadlines.  Also, faculty temporarily off campus for sabbaticals and the like should be contacted (if they are not checking their UW email) so that they have an opportunity to apply for 2004-05 parking.  While these applicants should be urged to apply by the May 28 deadline, I will of course process late applications as I receive them.  Applications received after June 18 will be processed on the web site, but the applicants will not receive an assignment in the initial run, and will be placed on the lot waiting lists for consideration on August 6.

Lot Acceptance on July 16

Assignments made by TS on July 16 will be honored until August 5.  It is not necessary to claim the assignment on the first day it is offered, but waiting until August 4^th or 5^th is not advised.  A number of faculty and staff lost their assignments last year because they waited (or were not able) to claim their assignment until the last day.  If you have any faculty/staff who plan to be gone from May 16 to August 5, they must make arrangements to claim the assignment remotely or have someone claim it for them. 

Waiting lists 

If faculty/staff in your department do not receive a lot they wish to accept for 2004-05, they have two options:

Leaves of Absence

Faculty who are/were on leave during part or all of the 2003-04 parking year might not receive an email from TS even if they followed the necessary procedures to put their parking in leave status before they left.  If so, they should contact Chris Bruhn to get a logon id and password.  This does not in any way compromise their chances of getting a lot assignment of choice.

Faculty who are going to be on an approved leave during part of the 2004-05 parking year should complete an application and submit it on the web site by May 28.  This includes those who won’t be on leave until the Spring Semester.  Again this past year, I was not made aware of some Spring Semester leaves of absence until a few days before the faculty member left campus.  While I realize this is beyond your control in many cases, please remind your faculty to let you know about Spring Semester leaves before the parking year begins.

The Office of Transportation Services considers a leave to be 3 months or longer and for teaching or research purposes only.   When the faculty member going on leave is notified of an assignment to a lot on July 16, 2004, he/she should accept the assignment and ask that it be put on leave status for the period of their leave.  This is important as it keeps their parking assignment in the system for when they return to campus, many of whom need to park for the spring/summer following leave.  Requests to place a parking assignment in leave status must be endorsed by me, so be sure to send them on to 308 South Hall whenever a leave situation arises.

L&S Priority Point Allocation Formula

**The L&S priority point system will be the same for the 2004-05 parking year.**

Please feel to share this with anyone in your department who has a question about how the process works.

Priority list development

The Office of Transportation Services mandates that I submit a single ranked list of all L&S payrolled employees applying for parking assignments in 2004-05.  The College priority list is then integrated with those of all other campus units into a single list, and lot assignments are made by computer selection from the combined list.  (For perspective, over 1,200 L&S employees requested parking in campus lots in 2003-04.)  The priority list for the College will include those presently in the system and new appli­cants in 2004-05.  The best time to apply for a parking assignment is now during the annual exercise because this is the time of highest probability of obtaining an assignment to a lot of one's choice.

To develop the list, the College uses a simple formula-driven prioritization process as approved by the L&S Parking Policy Review Committee.  Priority numbers, as in past years, will be determined on the basis of age, with points added based on rank/title for faculty, academic and classified staff.** 

The L&S Parking Policy Review Committee spent considerable time and effort in 1996-97 reviewing this formula to determine if another system (like seniority) would be preferable.  For a variety of reasons explained in their report, a decision was made to maintain the current system.  If you would like a copy of their report for further information, look on the L&S parking web page.

(** For example, if a 40 year old L&S Associate Professor applies for a base lot assignment, he/she would receive 40 age points plus the 9 points that are equivalent to the title of Associate Professor for a total point allocation of 49.)

It is important to reiterate that the L&S priority list is developed anew each year.  It is necessary to do so because many employees come and go each year (new hires, resignations, transfers, retirees, leaves of absence), which impacts on parking needs in many lots.  Obviously, similar changes in staff parking needs occur in other units on campus every year, which also affects L&S parkers.  This is not to mention those continuing L&S faculty and staff whose parking needs/desires change from one year to the next for any number of reasons.  The point here is that an assignment in a particular lot for one year does not guarantee an assignment in that same lot the next year.  This reality is particularly acute in years when parking availability is down – as 2004-05 will be (-1,500 stalls).

Given the lot pricing changes for 2004-05, it is clear that the demand for particular lots will change.  How many L&S faculty/staff will not get the same lot they had in 2003-04 is unknown, but it is important to note that changes in rates, stall availability, enforcement times and permit types like business alternates will have an impact.       

Special points

Again in 2004-05, special points will be considered for work-related needs only, as endorsed by the Departmental Chair.  Endorsement by the Chair is an important step.   I noticed that some departments did not submit a list of special consideration requests from the Chair last year.  I did my best to look into situations where I believed a special need still existed and made priority point allocation decisions accordingly.  For 2004-05, I need to have requests for special consideration from the department chair.  In the absence of such a request, prior year special points will be dropped and some of your faculty/staff will lose their usual lot assignment.  If you need more specific information about prior year special point allocations for your faculty/staff, please let me know. 

Some examples of work-related needs include frequently transporting instructional and research equipment and active experiments between buildings, traveling frequently between state agency buildings or vendors and the UW to conduct UW business, academic outreach activities, and the like.  A few exceptions might be made for others depending on the circumstances (family, health, safety or other special issues), but such exceptions will be infrequent.  The L&S Parking Policy Review Committee considered this issue at length as well, and the current policy is a result of their review.

The following is a brief summary of the other common types of special points usually requested and the Committee’s recommendations:

Health issues — Applicants should obtain a permanent DOT permit and then apply for a UW disabled permit of the PAS for $425. See the following web page for more info.

Safety concerns — The Office of Transportation offers nighttime safety services like SafeWalk and SafeRide, Saferide Cab and free bus services. Also, lot enforcement times changed drastically in 2002-03, so faculty and staff working late can park in many lots across campus after 4:30 p.m.  Please see the following TS pages for more information. 

Family issues — (Daycare, homebound care for family members, home residence is distant from campus, etc...) - special points will not be given for requests of this nature.  Applicants with family issues should consult with their departmental chairperson to explore options to meet their needs.

Carpools — Additional priority points are given to carpoolers.  Please see the information about carpools in the later section about permit policies.

Special Point Request Process

If an applicant in your department is considering making a request for special point consideration for a base lot or business alternate permit, please make him/her aware of the policy and alternatives mentioned in the preceding paragraphs first.  If they wish to submit a request, they should do the following:

Parking Rates

A link to the lot rates and citation information for 2004-05 will be provided in the Transportation Services email coming on April 30th.  I would suggest faculty and staff review this information when applying as well as information about enforcement times (discussed later in this memo).   

A brief summary of lot rates is as follows:

Base lots - $425, $675 or $1015 (depending on location and type)

UW disabled permits - $425

Dept limited permits - $ lot rate

Dept universal permits - $525

Dept reserved stall - $1015

Park ‘n Ride commuter lots  - $165
(a new P&R lot will be available on the east side and it tentatively identified as a no charge lot.  More details to follow as negotiations with Madison Metro continue.)

Madison Metro Bus- Free

Business Alternate permits - $75, limited to one permit.  For those who indicate a need for more than one business alternate permit, the dept may need to consider purchasing a dept limited or universal permit depending on the level of need.  Please see the section on Permit Policies that follows. 

Permit Policies

Carpools

2004-05 - no changes in the College policy

In 1998-99, Dean Certain endorsed a recommendation by the L&S Parking Policy Review Committee to provide additional parking priority points for those who choose to carpool.  A fixed scale point system as follows is in effect. 

Only UW employees riding in a carpool are eligible toward the count above.  Spouses who drive in together are considered a carpool.  One member of a prospective carpool will receive extra points.  That person should be selected by the members of the carpool and submit an application and the carpool form.  Each member of the carpool may submit an application for parking, but additional points are awarded to the designated carpool leader. 

UW Disabled Permits

2004-05 - price increased to $425.  Those with a DOT permit that expires prior to August 31, 2005 should apply for a UW disabled permit by May 28 on the PAS.  When asked for the DOT permit number and expiration month/year, they should enter Sept 1, 2005.  This will allow their application for a UW disabled permit to go through the system.  When the DOT permit is extended, the faculty/staff member should go back into the PAS and enter the new/correct expiration date. 

Business Alternate Permits

2004-05 - only one such permit is allowed per faculty or staff employee.  The charge for the permit is $75.  Justification for the permit needs to be provided on the web application.  

Prior to June 8, I will review all Chair endorsed requests submitted for business alternate permits.  If a request meets the TS guidelines and is clearly work-related in nature, I will approve it.  TS must then approve the request as well, and the individual must have a high enough priority number to qualify for the permit.  TS limits the numbers of alternates allowed per lot, so it is not possible for me to guarantee such permits even if I strongly endorse the need to TS.  Remember, the business alternate lot cannot be closer to a faculty/staff member’s main office than the base lot. 

Flex In-Car Meter Parking

2004-05 - will continue this coming year, with 400 additional assignments to be made.  Those already in the program will be able to continue as long as they qualify for a flex parking lot.  They should apply for a flex lot via the PAS by May 28 like everyone else.  Those who are not now in the flex program should complete the web application and the flex portion to be considered.  With the addition of 400 flex meter assignments in 2004-05, this is an option faculty and staff with at least an 81% time appointment should consider. 

Enforcement Issues 2004-2005

In 2002-03, TS altered many lot enforcement times.  There are now only 4 types of lots from an enforcement perspective.  Please see the following list for an explanation of the lot enforcement times.  Also, go to the following url to see how each campus lot fits into these categories.  Changes in enforcement times might make a difference to some faculty and staff as they apply for parking.      

http://www2.fpm.wisc.edu/trans/Citations/LotInfo/LotAddressEnforcementHours.htm

Lot Addresses/Enforcement Hours

Lots are divided into four categories for enforcement purposes:

Type W Lots: 
Enforced 7 AM - 10 PM Monday-Saturday.  Pay the meter or display a valid permit for the lot.
From 10 PM - 7 AM and all day Sunday:  Meters are free.  The lot is open to the public.
(See restrictions below)

Type X Lots:
Enforced 7 AM - 4:30 PM Monday-Friday.  Pay the meter or display a valid permit for the lot. 
From 4:30 PM - 7 AM and all day Saturday/Sunday:  Meters and permit stalls are free.  The lot is open to the public.
(See restrictions below)

Type Y Lots:
Enforced 7 AM - 4:30 PM Monday-Friday.  Pay the meter or display a valid permit for the lot.
From 4:30 PM - 7 AM and all day Saturday/Sunday:  Pay the meter or display any valid base lot permit.
(See restrictions below)

Type Z Lots:
Enforced 24 hours/day and 7 days/week.  Pay the meter or display a valid permit for the lot at all times.

Restrictions:
Free After Hours parking does not include restricted areas including reserved stalls, disabled stalls, loading zones, construction areas or lots being used for Special Events.

Type X and Y lots are those that faculty and staff who have evening or weekend responsibilities should consider when looking for parking. 

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It is my hope that the information provided in this memo will be helpful to you in answering the questions from your faculty and staff in applying for 2004-05 parking.  I will soon have the L&S parking web site updated to incorporate this information and any updates on policy issues. Finally, I will provide you with regular updates by email on application glitches and fixes, and other pertinent information.   

Until then, I would encourage faculty and staff to work through you in getting answers to parking questions.  I am always willing to answer any questions for you or your faculty/staff, or get the answer if I don’t know it!