It’s 10 a.m., and you are circling the parking lot in front of the Carlson Library hoping a car will pull out. You are going to be late to class, and it’s all because of ParkUToledo. Or is it?
University of Toledo students have voiced concerns about ParkUToledo — an external agency that manages parking on campus — since it was implemented in October 2021. The University of Toledo entered into a 35 year-long agreement with ParkUToledo in which UToledo received an immediate payment of $52 million, as well as an additional $10 million for parking lot improvements during the first three years. In exchange, ParkUToledo took on the responsibilities of maintaining university parking.
UToledo has now entered year five of this transaction with ParkUToledo, and commuters have raised concerns about midday rushes, inaccessible walkways, a lack of parking spots and expensive fines and parking passes.
“It’s so crowded, and it’s in specific waves. Like, if I want to get to my classes, it’s like 11 something, I got to show up like a couple hours earlier or all the parking’s going to be gone,” Skylar Pickett, a sophomore neuroscience major and commuter student, said. “That sucks.”
When asked about one thing she would like to see ParkUToledo work on, Pickett said she would like the department to be more lenient regarding citations.
“Maybe like lenience, because I’ve seen so many people get tickets for stuff that kind of wasn’t fair,” Pickett said.
Other students shared similar concerns about the lack of leniency from ParkUToledo. Francisco Fernandez, a sophomore biology major and commuter student, said students should receive warnings if they violate parking rules.
“They should 100% at least give a warning. Again, with the rate they’re charging, give a warning or notify people like, ‘Hey, oh, you can’t park there,’ or ‘Hey, you have to pay this,’” Fernandez said.
Students have also raised concerns about citations they believed were issued incorrectly. Gabriel Heeres, a freshman geography major and commuter student, said he had to appeal two citations he considered unfair.
“Both of the parking violations I received — that were both unfair — and I had to appeal were because of some event or something that I was at that had free parking, but apparently the system didn’t have that information,” Heeres said.
Some students have also called attention to wanting more accessible walkways in parking lots. Steven McCarroll, an education major and commuter student, said the walkway access near Lot 2 can become congested.
“I typically park over at Parking Area 2 on the other side of Health and Human Services, and the access to the sidewalk feels very congested by students walking through, commuters trying to come in, or just people trying to find parking. That means that it’s really hard to enter into that parking lot,” McCarroll said.
McCarroll also has concerns about Lot 13 near Bowman-Oddy Laboratories.
“Lot 13 over by Bowman-Oddy has a lot of raised concrete paths that are filled with rocks. I think that space could better be used as sidewalks or have some sort of ability to walk on, because once again, students have to expose themselves to the blacktop if they’re walking through it,” McCaroll said. “The main thing that I want to get on is the fact that there aren’t places for students to walk, and sometimes that feels dangerous.”
Dan Cowgill, the director of ParkUToledo, said that while the department has to make financially viable decisions that don’t always resonate with students, “we don’t want it to be a negative experience.” In recent years, they’ve made changes to its parking permit and citation payment systems.
“We had a previous software for permitting, and it was like a 10-step process for you to get your permit. We got complaints about that all the time, especially from people who would buy a daily permit.”
Since mid-2024, the department changed the software to make buying permits and paying citations more efficient.
“It’s not something tangible, but it’s stuff that we’re able to do on the back end that helps improve the customer experience. Improve efficiencies for not only us here in the office, but also students or faculty that are buying permits, potentially unfortunately paying citations, stuff like that,” Cowgill said.
And students have found ParkUToledo’s systems and appeal process helpful.
Nick Kosrowski, a junior finance major and commuter student, said he is satisfied with how the department handled his appeal.
“Once you find out you get a citation or something, you’re obviously a little upset, but they do a good job at handling it and fixing it accordingly,” Kosrowski said.
Kosrowski also said the department is understanding when students have a legitimate reason against a citation.
“They’re pretty understanding if you have, you know, good cause for that,” he said.
Heeres had a similar situation with the appealing process.
“I think they do a good job of fixing their problems when they do arise. Both of the things I’ve appealed, they’ve responded within a day and got it fixed,” Heeres said.
When asked how students can navigate campus parking, Cowgill recommended that commuters account for traffic patterns and parking in other areas when their usual lots are full.
“As students get into their routine, things are going to be pretty consistent throughout the semester. Classes aren’t going to change very often. So if you’re coming in on a Tuesday at 11 a.m. and you can never find parking in Area 2, don’t go to Area 2,” Cowgill said.
Cowgill said students can also reduce the stress of finding a spot by allotting for extra time and to consider lots farther from their classrooms.
“I know it’s not the most popular thing to hear, but give yourself an extra few minutes. Get out there, park a little bit further away; you’re going to relieve yourself of the stress of having to deal with trying to hunt for a spot, trying to see if you can find somebody leaving,” Cowgill said.
ParkUToledo also offers some helpful services worth taking advantage of, like battery jump-starts and a free air compressor available in Lot 18 for anyone to use.
“If your car dies, you can call our office anytime that we’re here in the office. So basically 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and we’ll send somebody out with a battery pack and jump your car,” Cowgill said.
Between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., commuters can flag down a ParkUToledo ambassador for assistance.
“So if a student were to ever see somebody out after 5 o’clock, just wave us down and same thing. We’ll be happy to help,” Cowgill said.
