I believe that there is an unmet need regarding on-campus parking at the University of Florida. When analyzing this issue, I focused on on-campus parking for off-campus students. From 2015 to 2019, the amount of Park & Ride designated parking lots/spaces has slowly decreased as a growing number of students begin to transition to off-campus housing. While it would be easy to just say “Let’s build a giant new parking lot”, I wanted to try and find a more creative and cost-efficient solution. My belief is that UF could place cameras facing each parking lot on campus (similar to what already exists with gym live cams) and create an application that allows students/faculty to look at the availability of parking in real-time. UF students that live off-campus mainly would have this need as they are the ones who need to travel the farthest to get onto campus. This need has already existed; however, it is only growing larger as the UF student population continues to grow. Currently, most UF off-campus students utilize the RTS bus transportation system to get onto and off campus. I would say that there is at least a 60% chance that this opportunity exists because there are a large number of UF off-campus students that have Park & Ride decals that are unable or afraid to use them because they are unsure if they will be able to find parking on-campus. By placing cameras in each of the UF parking lots (for cars & scooters), UF students will be able to check on the availability of parking in real-time and be able to more efficiently find a parking spot.
#1: Off-Campus UF Junior with Park & Ride Decal for Car
· How long have you had a UF Park & Ride decal for your car?
o “This is the first year that I have purchased a Park & Ride decal since I am now living in an apartment off-campus.”
· How often do you utilize your decal and park on-campus?
o “I use it on the weekends mostly, it is very hard to find parking on campus during the week and I do not have the time to continue to scour the parking lot to find an available space.”
· When did you first realize that there was an issue finding parking?
o “The first day of school when I drove my car onto campus and could not find parking at 7am. I spent almost an hour looking for parking and ended up just paying to park at the Reitz Union because I did not want to be late to class.”
· On the days that you do not utilize your decal, how do you get on/off campus?
o “I use the RTS bus system pretty much every day during the school week to get to and from campus.”
· How satisfied are you with your back-up method of transportation? Are you happy with this solution?
o “No, it takes me much longer to get on-campus and I have to wake up much earlier to make sure that I do not miss the bus and make it to school on time. I also tend to spend much more time on campus than I would like as I feel like I have to schedule my whole day around when the buses arrive/leave where I want to go.”
· How likely are you to purchase a Park & Ride decal in the future if changes are not made?
o “I probably will not purchase a Park & Ride decal next year honestly if changes are not made. I would rather take the money that I spent on the parking decal and utilize that to just live in one of the apartments that are closer to campus.”
· Would you be more willing to utilize your decal if you could see the availability of UF parking in real-time?
o “Yes, I probably would be more willing just because I would have a better sense of how full the parking lots are on any given day. I wouldn’t have to spend so much time looking for a parking spot and might be able to actually get my money’s worth out of this decal.”
REFLECTION: After this interview, I learned that there is some truth to my belief about the inadequacy of on-campus parking for off-campus students. The RTS transportation system seems to be a fair alternative, however if improvements are made in allowing students to view parking availability in real-time, that seems to be the more attractive option.
#2: Off-Campus UF Sophomore with Scooter Decal
· How long have you had a UF Parking decal for your scooter?
o “This is actually the first year that I have had my scooter so I just purchased the decal this year.”
· How often do you utilize your decal and park on-campus?
o “I pretty much take my scooter to school every day. It is sometimes difficult to find available scooter parking, but I can imagine that it is much harder to find parking for cars.”
· When did you first realize that there was an issue finding parking?
o “My freshman year, I knew a few friends that purchased a decal and would attempt to drive to school. They ended up barely using the decal because it was so hard to find parking on campus. After seeing their experience, I decided to just leave my car at home and ride my scooter pretty much everywhere.”
· On the days that you do not utilize your decal, how do you get on/off campus?
o “Well, I mainly take my scooter to campus just because it is more convenient to me. On the days that I don’t take my scooter, I end up just taking the bus because it’s only like a 20-minute ride to campus and I won’t get as wet when it rains here in Gainesville.”
· How satisfied are you with your back-up method of transportation? Are you happy with this solution?
o “The bus is okay I guess, I would rather take that then try and bring my car on campus. The parking lots here are pretty tight so the odds of finding a spot with how many students go to school here is nearly impossible.”
· How likely are you to purchase a Park & Ride or Scooter decal in the future if changes are not made?
o “I would probably buy another Scooter decal for next year, but definitely not the Park & Ride. I feel like I would get better use out of the scooter decal because they take up less space than a car and the spots are better located closer to campus.”
· Would you be more willing to utilize your decal if you could see the availability of UF parking in real-time?
o “For sure, definitely! I think that could help scooter parking as well, as there are some days where I have to park in a different lot because it gets too full. Seeing the available parking would help save me some time.”
REFLECTION: After this interview, I learned that scooters are definitely trending upwards in terms of methods of transportation to get on/off campus. The implementation of cameras to view availability of parking can be applied to scooter parking as well, which would be beneficial to scooter riders. I also learned that maybe the implementation of my belief may be difficult as it may entice more people to purchase a decal, which would then create a higher demand for an already limited supply of parking on campus.
#3: Off-Campus UF Junior with no Park & Ride/Scooter Decal
· How long have you had a UF Park & Ride decal?
o “I currently do not have a UF Park & Ride or a Scooter decal, but I did have one two years ago when I was a freshman living off-campus.”
· How often do you utilize your decal and park on-campus?
o “When I was a freshman, I would utilize my decal probably around 4 times a week. Over time, it just became too much of a hassle to try and find parking on campus so that is why I did not purchase a decal last year and why I do not have one this year.”
· When did you first realize that there was an issue finding parking on-campus?
o “When I could not find parking on-campus right before my class and ended up having to park in a different colored parking lot. I ended up getting ticketed for it and just decided that the pain of having to drive to school was just not worth it on a daily basis.”
· On the days that you do not utilize your decal, how do you get on/off campus?
o “When I would not utilize my decal, I would take the bus to school. It wasn’t exactly the most efficient mode of transportation, but at least I knew that I was going to make it from/to school at a reasonable time every day.”
· How satisfied are you with your back-up method of transportation? Are you happy with this solution?
o “It was alright, if I lived closer to campus I would probably choose to walk though. The bus just takes a bit longer than I would like and I have to make sure that I check the RTS app continuously to make sure I make it to class on time.”
· How likely are you to purchase a Park & Ride decal in the future if changes are not made?
o “I definitely won’t purchase it again next year as I do not think it is worth it to pay $160 to just end up taking the bus to school. It just isn’t worth driving to campus and ending up not finding a spot.”
· Would you be more willing to utilize your decal if you could see the availability of UF parking in real-time?
o “Yes, I would be more likely to purchase a decal if I could see the availability of parking in real time. I would be able to just look at the app and then decide by how full the parking was if I want to drive or take the bus to school. At least it would give me an alternative option than just continuously taking the bus to school.”
REFLECTION: Not all off-campus students are open to the idea of driving their car to school again. After interviewing this student, it is clear that some students have given up on the idea of parking on campus as there just isn’t a high enough supply to meet the demand and to some students, paying the $160 for a decal is not worth the hassle and difficulty of actually finding a parking spot.
SUMMARY: I think about 60-75% of my original opportunity is still there, from what I originally believed to exist. The main issue that I found with my belief is that it will definitely make finding parking a bit easier, however it won’t solve the issue of the lack of enough parking on campus for these off-campus students. In fact, maybe implementing my belief will actually place more stress on the issue as more students could be enticed to purchase a parking decal, increasing the overall demand. My new opportunity is still an accurate idea reflecting the issue of on-campus parking for off-campus UF students, however it definitely is not as perfect of an idea as I originally thought. I think entrepreneurs should certainly listen to consumer feedback, however only to a limited extent. Consumers can provide some valuable feedback, however when creating something new or innovative, consumers may tend to voice a more hesitant or critical approach. People, as a whole, tend to focus on the negative attributes of an idea making it sometimes difficult to analyze their feedback and determine what is valuable and what should be ignored.
Hi Javier,
ReplyDeleteI believe you have found a real need. However, I do not agree that it will be getting bigger. The reason for the lack of parking is due to that fact that the university is trying to lower its carbon emissions. This is why you are seeing more online classes as well as new RTS routes. The university believes in reducing traffic as a whole as opposed making it easier to park cars. I will have to say that I do not necessarily agree with their solution but that is the route they have chosen.