7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Gainesville parking and transportation

• Opportunity
• In Gainesville, there is an increasing demand for parking both on campus and in city parking.
• The Who:
• On campus - UF students
• City parking - UF students & any city decals users
• The What:
• There are not enough parking spots available for the amount of car drivers
• The Why:
• City planners and builders did not allocate enough parking space, and also would rather build high-value investments (such as apartment buildings) rather than more parking spaces
• Testing the Who:
• In any populated city, parking can be a huge issue. I don’t think the “Who” is limited to just the Gainesville area. I know from living in New York City this summer, parking is a huge issue there. Many people don’t own cars because of the price of owning a parking spot. The level of severity definitely varies from region to region, but it is an issue nonetheless. I think the “who” in this situation is mainly the people who live near sorority row and Norman, but it can affect many others.
• Testing the What
• While the number of students who attend UF and housing options around campus have increased, the number of parking spots has remained the same. This is the main cause of this issue, because more and more people are bringing their cars to school and creating a larger gap between number of cars and available parking spots.
• Testing the Why
• People need parking spots for their cars because they need a safe place to park their cars while they are not using them. They need to be accessible and keep your car safe. However, they do not generate any revenue after they are built, so it doesn’t occur to developers to create more areas for parking spots over apartment buildings or rental spaces.

Interview #1

In this interview, I found that my interviewee did not share as strong of feelings as I have about the parking situation in Gainesville. However, she also mentioned she does not have a car here at school, so this problem does not affect her as much. She did state that she thought it was unfair for a school this large to not make parking more easily available to its students, and asked if Student Government had any jurisdiction to address this opportunity. She did not offer any ideas or suggestions to combat the issue.

Interview #2

This interview was conducted with the lady I used to babysit for last semester. She lives about 20 minutes from campus, but teaches a class at UF on Wednesday nights from 6-9pm, so she is familiar with UF campus parking. Since she is a professor at UF, I wanted to get her opinion and see if it was just a generational thing or an issue that bothers people of all ages. She said she was so thankful she does not have to deal with trying to park on campus during the day because “it is miserable at night sometimes, I can’t even imagine during the day”. She shared that she felt the people who designed UF parking and Gainesville city parking weren’t prepared for the amount of people who would be going to this school and living in the city.

Interview #3

I interviewed a girl in my sorority who lives off campus, and she had some very strong opinions that confirmed my opportunity hypothesis. She has had a car at school for the past two years and has had both a UF parking decal and a city parking decal. She believes it affects UF students who drive their car to school and depend on them to get to campus the most. This need for more parking spaces has been an issue for quite some time, both on campus and on the streets. To avoid this problem on campus, she normally must arrive on campus extremely early in the morning to find a parking spot. She said if she doesn't get to the parking lot before 9am, it's basically impossible. To avoid this problem with street parking, students will find a spot and avoid using their car for as long as possible to not lose their spot.

Interview #4

I interviewed a guy in my other class to get a male perspective. He has had his car at school for the past three years, since freshman year. He lived in Hume and then his fraternity house, so he never really had to deal with the congested parking lots on the other side of campus. However, he said he felt bad for the people who lived over by sorority row, because he knew how awful it could be finding a spot there. He is a busboy for a sorority, so he rides his scooter to avoid having to find a spot for his car. “It’s really bad there (sorority row/Norman garage) at dinner time because parking is lifted and everyone is trying to park there car,” he said. He said he has also avoided this problem by attempting to take the bus.

Interview #5

After my last interview, I decided to interview one of the busboys for my sorority. He was a little more pessimistic than the previous interview, because he only owns a car. He tries to get a ride from a friend or get dropped off, but most of the time he must endure the 5pm traffic around sorority row and Norman. I could tell it really bothered him. "It's annoying because you see the university put money into a lot of other areas that don't seem as important as this issue that affects a lot of students," he said.

Given your interviews, what do you know about the opportunity that you didn't know before?

• Each interview gave me a new perspective. I noticed that the people this issue directly affects are those that live near Norman and Sorority Row.
• Interview #2, with the UF Professor, was the most interesting to me. Although she only comes to campus once a week at night, she noticed the difficulty of finding adequate parking even at that time. I figured it would only matter to people who utilized UF parking during the day, but I guess the timing of when she needs to be on campus makes this issue relevant to her.
• I could relate to the end of my interview with #3, because I often park my car on sorority row and wait as long as possible to move it until it I absolutely have to use it. I've even gone as far as walking to Publix because I was too scared I wouldn't find a spot when I got back. She confirmed my hypothesis that parking is definitely an issue on that side of campus. 
• Interviews #4 and #5 were informative because they were conducted with two men who don't live near sorority row, but still travel there frequently. I found that it wasn't as much as an issue for them as I thought it might be, but it was definitely an inconvenience in their lives. I think that's a very important part of this issue - how inconvenient it is for the students who have to deal with parking their cars.