At the University of Memphis, reports thedailyhelmsman.com, parking enforcement officers have brought in more than $2 million during the last 6 years. The ticket fines range in price from $10 to $200 for infractions including not displaying a permit correctly and parking in a handicapped spot without a placard.
The university’s Parking and Transportation Services enforces parking regulations on the campus but the university itself enforces the collection of parking ticket fines. According to the article:
Students who do not pay their parking tickets are not allowed to register for classes. The University will even prevent students from accessing their grades and records unless parking citations are paid.
For faculty and staff, ticket money is automatically taken out of their paychecks if they don’t pay the ticket in a timely fashion.
That’s quite a set up. I can’t help but feel sorry for the students whose dollars make up that $2 million. I remember how exciting college was, but also how overwhelming it felt to be turned loose, required to work and study, maintain my grades and pay for my food and apartment. The last thing I ever needed was a parking ticket. Still, it’s reality on a campus and off a campus: you’ve got to obey parking laws or pay the price.
I’d feel a whole lot better if the University of Memphis Parking and Transportation Services funded a scholarship with some of that money. It seems like the right way to use some of that money and could give everybody a much better feeling about paying those parking fines.
Read the article here.
5 Responses
You do realize the people who read this blog are parking and transpiration professionals, right ? The article is straight forward and I’d bet that my colleagues in the campus parking business would say that the article could’ve been about their operation.
Your blog post comes across as condescending and as though PTS is doing something wrong by enforcing the rules and regulations. Before you go and make claims that they should fund a scholarship, maybe you should get a better understanding of their budget and their operations.
This isn’t what I’d expect to read on a parking blog for the industry.
Wow! Ever try to look at parking enforcement from the point of view of a person getting a citation? We all know that parking rules must be enforced, but if one thought that perhaps some of the big bucks made by the enforcement was going to a good cause, perhaps they would have a better taste in their mouth when that envelope showed up on their windshield.
I don’t know what you do expect to read here, but one thing we don’t do is always follow the company line.
JVH
“Big bucks made by enforcement? A better taste in their mouth when that envelope showed up on their windshield?” You act like the parking industry is a heartless, money-grabbing racket. The people who administer these programs (your readers and PIE attendees) are not evil and heartless and do not take pleasure in issuing citations and collecting fines. You do realize that your advertisers and sponsors are companies that provide technology and services to assist operations in collecting fines, right? I understand that PT doesn’t follow the company line, I leave that for IPI & NPA – but maybe it would be nice to have some support sometimes. We have challenging jobs (and for some of our frontline personnel for not much money) – we don’t need negativity coming from within.
Mr. Granwyzk, I hear what you are saying and I assure you, my comments are meant to be hyperbolic, not antagonistic. An article like the one I quoted, while accurate and fair, is bad public relations for a university parking entity. My comments, though offensive to you, are only meant to point out the image problem any parking group faces when it is perceived to be emphasizing profit over enforcement. I respect the work of parking professionals and I understand that university parking operations must enforce rules and make money to support staff and infrastructure. I’m definitely not anti-industry, but I intend my posts to raise questions that might end up being helpful.
Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, neerhtevless really worth taking a look, whoa did one learn about Mid East has got more problerms as well