Employees who commute to campus will now have to pay to park, on top of the cost of gas, if they want to continue to take advantage of UNC’s park-and-ride option.
Access to the nine UNC park-and-ride lots — which has traditionally been free — will cost University employees a minimum of $227 in fees for the 2013-14 academic year.
The park-and-ride fee for users of the Commuter Alternative Program will be charged on a sliding scale based on income, with a midpoint of $250 per permit.
Jason Palivoda, a grounds tech and delegate for the Employee Forum, said he thinks the fee is unfair.
“I feel it is a travesty to saddle working people who utilize the system for convenience, economy or environmentalism with an additional expense when pay raises have fallen far behind inflation and market value,” Palivoda said.
Chief of UNC Police Jeff McCracken said the estimated revenue will be approximately $580,000 annually, and the fee is meant to be affordable.
“The permit cost was established at a level that would generate revenue to help offset increasing costs while keeping in place a valuable service at a reasonable amount,” McCracken said.
“The sliding scale is the same one that is used for current permit costs, which puts students and our lowest paid employees in the same category equating to slightly less than $1 per day for park-and-ride.”
Jackie Overton, chairwoman of the Employee Forum, is a member of the Advisory Committee on Transportation and was involved in the drafting of the Department of Public Safety’s five-year transportation plan, which will begin in 2013-14.
