Policy Number: 4-006
Parking, Traffic and Transportation
Category: Business Affairs
Responsible Executive: Vice President for Business Affairs
1. Policy Statement
2. Applicability
3. Definitions
4. Policy Specifics
4.1 Parking Permits for Students, Faculty, Staff, Retirees, and Others
4.1.1. General Provisions
4.1.2. Permit Eligibility
4.1.3. Payment of Permit Fees
4.1.4. Visitor Parking
4.1.5. Event Parking
4.1.6. Motor Home Parking Program
4.2. Service Vehicle Parking
4.3. Data Information
4.3.1. Data Collection
4.3.2. Data Usage
4.3.3. Data Retention
4.4. Exceptions to the Parking and Transportation Policy
5. Review and Adjudication
6. Policy Violations: Parking Violations and Enforcement
6.1. General Provisions
6.2. Vehicle Impoundment
7. Questions
1 Policy Statement
Purpose – This Parking and Transportation Policy (“Policy”) provides the framework to implement and operationalize University of Florida Regulations 3.011 Control of Traffic, 3.006 Parking and 3.0051 Lost or Abandoned Property.
General Description – University of Florida (“University”) parking structures, surface lots, and transportation facilities are intended primarily for use by the University’s and UF Health’s students, Faculty, Staff, visitors, campus event attendees, and related organizations to further the University’s mission of education, research and service. Each Student, Faculty and Staff member of the University, and Employees of recognized affiliated organizations or contracted services (including similar commercial service providers/vendors) parking a vehicle (including UF State vehicles and other departmental vehicles) on University property are required to register their vehicle(s) for a parking Permit, pay the appropriate fee, and abide by the driving and parking rules stated in the relevant University of Florida Regulations and in this Parking and Transportation Policy.
The University parking operation is a self-supporting entity. The University charges fees and fines to manage parking on the Campus and to pay for the operation and maintenance of Campus parking facilities and to support the campus transportation infrastructure. Fees include without limitation: Permit fees, daily or hourly parking fees, and event parking fees for the use of Parking Spaces; fines including assessments for parking and Registration violations.
The Parking and Transportation Committee consists of Faculty and Student members. This committee reviews and recommends rules and regulations of a non-financial nature governing traffic, parking, and registration of vehicles, bicycles, scooters and motorcycles; public transportation to and on the Campus; and programs to facilitate and enhance efficient parking and transportation on the Campus. The committee reviews and recommends site locations for new parking facilities and parking lot enhancements on the Campus; special parking requests from University departments, students, staff, and faculty; and any significant findings regarding parking and transportation matters. The committee makes recommendations to the Vice President for Business Affairs regarding its significant findings on relevant parking and transportation matters.
Other Applicable University Regulations and Policies – In addition to Regulations 3.006, 3.011 and 3.0051 and this Policy, the use of any University parking and transportation resources is also subject to all other applicable University regulations, policies, procedures, rules, requirements, and standards promulgated to implement the Regulation and its related Policy, including but not limited to those concerning:
Regulation 2.019 Alcoholic Beverages
Regulation 3.005 University Police Department (Public Safety)
Regulation 4.006 Commercial Activity
Use of University Space Policy
2 Applicability
This Policy applies Campus-wide to each individual and every group or organization using University parking and transportation facilities. To the extent any portion of this Policy conflicts with other University rules, policies or procedures, this Policy shall control. Any question about how to interpret or apply this Policy should be directed to the Vice President for Business Affairs (or his/her designee).
3 Definitions
Abandoned Vehicle: a Vehicle that is left on UF campus for more than three consecutive days without a valid Permit.
Back-in Parking: parking a Vehicle with the front of the Vehicle facing the drive lanes and rear facing license plate is not visible.
Commercial Entity: any person or company that has contracted with UF to provide a service, regardless of the length of the contract, including but not limited to vendors and contractors.
Disabled Parking: designated parking spaces for anyone legally qualified to use disabled parking.
Employee: (i) a UF employee including Academic Personnel, TEAMS, USPS, LEO and OPS (non-student), and (ii) any non-student employee of a UF direct support organization and other affiliates.
False Registration: applying for, receiving, or displaying a Permit by providing false information or by other fraudulent means including reproducing, altering or defacing a Permit or any other document used for registration.
Head-in Parking: parking a Vehicle with the front of the Vehicle facing into the front of the parking space and with the rear license plate visible and facing into the drive lanes.
Holidays: official UF holidays only. Academic breaks and weekends are not holidays.
Impound/Impoundment: to tow a Vehicle away from the place it is parked, to boot a Vehicle by use of an immobilization device, or to seize and hold legal custody of a Vehicle.
Inoperable Vehicle: a Vehicle in a state of disrepair or incapable of being moved under its own power. Inoperable Vehicles include any vehicle abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, scrapped, junked, or in a partially-dismantled condition, including uninflated tires, no wheels, or lacking other parts necessary for normal operation, regardless of displaying a valid Permit.
LPR: License Plate Recognition, an online system integrated with digital cameras that use optic character recognition software to convert a digital image of a license plate into text. The license plate data is then sent to a database where it is compared in real-time to a list of plate numbers that are associated with a Virtual Permit.
Parking: the act of stopping or standing of a vehicle anywhere on campus, whether occupied or not, and whether the vehicle’s motor is running or not.
Permit: a non-transferable UF parking permit, decal, hangtag, virtual permit, dashboard permit, or metered parking receipt issued by TAPS.
Reserved Space: an individually marked space, reserved for the specified user 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or as otherwise displayed on the applicable signage.
Restricted Area: an area where a Vehicle may be parked only if it bears the appropriate Permit for that area.
Service Drive Area: parking areas reserved for Vehicles for delivery, service, emergency, and other Vehicles with Service Drive Permits.
Shands Employee: a non-student employee of UF Health Shands Hospital.
Student: an individual who is enrolled at UF; full- time or part- time, regardless of the number of hours or days attending classes.
Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS): the UF unit: (a) responsible for (i) issuing Permits, (ii) collecting parking fees, (iii) assessing parking fines; and (iv) enforcing parking rules on campus; and (b) vested with the authority to store, dispose, or transfer the title of Abandoned Vehicles.
Vehicle: appropriately registered cars, motorcycles, and other means of motorized transportation intended for and in current condition to be operated on public highways. Bicycles, mopeds, Segways, or micromobility devices are not Vehicles.
Virtual Permit: a non-physical Permit that uses virtual verification by LPR.
Visitor: a person who is not a Student, Employee, Shands Employee or Commercial Entity or other member of the UF community coming on to campus to attend to UF business or related activities; to participate in a UF related or sponsored event, class, activity, or program; or to further the UF educational mission, or for any other purpose.
4 Policy Specifics
4.1 Parking Permits for Students, Faculty, Staff, Retirees, and Others
4.1.1 General Provisions
4.1.1.2 The following types of parking exist on Campus and may be used to comply with University Policy and Regulation:
• Short-term, mid-term, and all-day pay parking for which a fee is required; and
• Patient and Visitor parking at UF Health Shands for which a fee or complimentary parking voucher issued by the medical provider is required.
• Electric Vehicles requiring Back-in Parking to actively charge at a charging station;
• Vehicles displaying an official State-issued front license plate; and
• Vehicles displaying an optional front tag purchased from TAPS bearing the same characters as the state-issued rear license plate, for the express purpose of allowing Back-in Parking on Campus.
4.1.1.5 An official color-coded parking map displayed on the TAPS website serves to identify for Students, Faculty, and Staff which parking facilities may be used by which Permit types. Vehicles may park only in the appropriate lots and spaces during Restricted Hours.
4.1.1.6 Oversized Vehicles such as trucks, trailers, motor homes, or any Vehicle requiring more than one standard Parking Space or extending beyond the space, shall be parked in an area designated by TAPS with appropriate Permit, which typically will be in a remote area.
4.1.1.7 Faculty, Staff, and Students of Santa Fe College and other schools who use UF facilities, including the libraries, are eligible to purchase Permits comparable to UF Faculty, Staff, and Students.
4.1.1.8 Special Events/Maintenance: TAPS has authority to close streets, parking facilities, and Parking Spaces to facilitate special events, and to perform necessary maintenance. TAPS has the sole authority to close any parking facilities or spaces. University entities seeking to close a parking facility must obtain prior approval in writing from TAPS.
4.1.2 Permit Eligibility
The type of Permit a Student is eligible to purchase is determined by Student Classification (undergraduate or graduate/professional); location of the Student’s residence (off-Campus or on-Campus in a residence hall, family housing, fraternity, or sorority); and number of earned credit hours.
Student Permit types and eligibility criteria are as follows:
• Park & Ride Permit: undergraduate Students living off-Campus.
• Red 1 Permit: Students living on Campus in residence halls, fraternities, or sororities, and who have completed 50 or more earned credit hours (a total of 50 or more credits must be completed by the beginning of the fall semester; credits earned later in the year do not alter decal eligibility).
• Red 3 Permit: Students living on Campus in residence halls, fraternities, and sororities who have completed fewer than 50 earned credit hours.
• Brown 2 Permit: Students living in Corry, Maguire, and UVS family housing villages.
• Brown 3 Permit: Students living in Diamond family housing village.
• Disabled Student Permit: Students with a current State-issued Disabled persons Parking Placard issued specifically to the Student.
• Motorcycle/Scooter Permit: any Student.
• UF Health Gold Permit: Employees of UF Health renewing a previously owned UF Health Gold or Silver Permit, and others who are approved for a space by UF Health administration.
• UF Health Silver Permit: Employees of UF Health renewing a previously owned UF Health Gold or Silver Permit, and others who are approved for a space by UF Health administration.
• Official Business Permit: Employees of the University of Florida and UF Health.
• Orange Permit: full-time TEAMS, USPS and OPS Employees with workplaces located on the UF Campus; and part-time OPS Employees who are not affiliated as Students.
• Blue Permit: full-time TEAMS, USPS and OPS Employees with workplaces located in the UF Health area; and part-time OPS Employees who are not affiliated as Students.
• Medical Resident Permit: UF Health Medical Residents.
• UF Health South 1 Permit: Employees who are approved for a space by UF Health administration.
• Staff Commuter Permit: full-time TEAMS, USPS, and OPS Employees with workplaces located on the UF Campus or UF Health area; and part-time OPS Employees who are not affiliated as Students.
• Carpool Permit: any Employee.
• Disabled Employee Permit: Employees with a current State-issued Disabled persons Parking Placard issued specifically to the Employee.
• Motorcycle/Scooter Permit: any Employee.
4.1.3 Payment of Permit Fees
4.1.3.2 Faculty and Staff Permits may be purchased via payroll deduction. Deductions will be taken on a pre-tax basis. The Permit fee will be pro-rated on a bi-weekly basis over the term of the Permit. The prorated fee will be calculated at the time of purchase.
4.1.4 Visitor Parking
• Disabled visitors may park in general ADA spaces provided they display a valid State-issued Disabled Persons Parking Placard, or in any Permit restricted non-reserved Parking Space.
• Individuals exiting the garage without a complimentary parking voucher are required to pay the daily parking fee of $10.00.
• Students and Employees are prohibited from using these parking facilities during hours of patient operations unless they themselves are patients at that time.
4.1.5 Event Parking
Event parking must be scheduled and reserved with TAPS a minimum of two weeks in advance. University or University affiliated event coordinators may request parking accommodations for University departments or colleges sponsoring or co-sponsoring an event on Campus. Determination of whether the request is granted and what specific parking accommodations may be implemented will be made solely by TAPS based on parking availability, size of the event, and impact on normal Campus parking needs. Accommodations may include the purchase of event Permits, Reserved Spaces, or lifting of restrictions for the event.
4.1.5.2 Event Parking Permits
• Event Permits may be purchased by the organization sponsoring the event for $2.00 per vehicle per day.
• TAPS will determine the locations for which the event Permits will be valid.
• Event Permits may not be used by vendors or UF or UF Health Students, Faculty, or Staff.
• Unused event Permits or Permits for cancelled events are non-refundable.
• Event Permits do not guarantee a Parking Space. It provides the same opportunity to park on Campus enjoyed by Faculty, Staff, and Students.
• Since TAPS Staff is required to reserve parking for an event, reservations are billed at $39.00 per hour per parking attendant with a 3-hour minimum per attendant. Regardless of the starting time for an event, TAPS attendants need to start reserving spaces by 7:00 am to ensure that the spaces remain available for your guests. This is billable time.
• Parking reservations are not intended for Employees and Students with access to Permit parking of their own, including Staff working the event. Reservations will be accepted only for events where guests are coming from off Campus locations.
• TAPS may determine that the best accommodation is to lift Permit restrictions at a specific parking location instead of reserving spaces. The cost to lift restrictions is $100 per parking lot or location.
• A minimum of 20 spaces is required to secure garage reservations. TAPS reserves the right to limit the maximum number of spaces that may be reserved for each event.
4.1.6 Motor Home Parking Program
4.1.6.2 Parking locations and program rules are subject to change annually.
4.2 Service Vehicle Parking
4.2.2 Operators of State vehicles and permanently marked Commercial vehicles may park in Service Drives and adjacent areas while directly engaged in the service activity, and then are expected to move the vehicle to an appropriate long-term Parking Space.
4.2.3 Official Business parking Permits may be purchased from TAPS for $146 annually by University departments, colleges, and administrative units for use by Employees while in the performance of official duties across Campus.
4.2.4 Upon request, Official Business Permits may include Service Drive parking privileges for access to areas that may not be accessible by other means. Time-limited Service Drive privileges may be granted based on justification provided by the requestor.
4.2.5 Permits with a Service Area time limit greater than four hours, if approved, require payment of an additional $100 fee.
4.2.6 Any vehicle parked in a hazardous or obstructive manner, regardless of Service Drive privileges, shall be subject to citations and removal at the owner’s expense.
4.2.7 Use of these Permits to provide convenience parking, or as an alternative to purchasing parking decals, or to upgrade parking accommodations for Faculty, Staff, or Students is prohibited.
4.2.8 A UF Permit may be required along with the Service Drive Permit, depending on the user’s eligibility to purchase their own Permit.
4.3 Data Information
4.3.1 Data Collection
A collection of mobile and or fixed LPR cameras capture images of vehicles are located on the University of Florida campus, as well as areas associated with a current university lease, rental, or mutual-aid agreement. The LPR system captures both a context image of a vehicle and its immediate surroundings, and an LPR image of the vehicle license plate. The images captured are then stored in the system along with the global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, and the date/time information of the observation. Once stored, the LPR system processes the images and generates an alpha-numeric record of the license plate that is stored along with the images, GPS data, and date/time data. The alpha-numeric record of the license plate, GPS data, and date/time data are known as meta-data. The LPR system does not contain users’ parking account information but may be used to link to a parking account within the parking management system by authorized Transportation and Parking Services personnel.
4.3.2 Data Usage
Parking permission data is uploaded to the LPR system from the parking management system through automated processes. The images and data that are captured and processed by the LPR system are analyzed by the LPR system to identify if the license plate observed has the appropriate permissions to park in the designated area of the observation or if the license plate is associated with delinquent parking fees. If the license plate observed either does not have proper authorization to park where observed, or the license plate is identified with delinquent parking fees, an alert is raised in the system indicating to the parking enforcement specialist that enforcement action may be necessary.
4.3.3 Data Retention
Data collected by the LPR system is stored in a vendor hosted database and retained pursuant to Florida Statute 316.0778, items #103 and #104 of the General Records Schedule GS5 and item #302 of the General Records Schedule GS1-SL.
4.4 Exceptions to the Parking and Transportation Policy
While adherence to these Policies is necessary to maintain critical parking equilibrium across Campus, exceptions may be considered from time to time by TAPS or University senior leadership in the best interest of the University.
5 Review and Adjudication
N/A
6 Policy Violations: Parking Violations and Enforcement
6.1 General Provisions
6.1.1 TAPS, the University of Florida Police Department, appropriate law enforcement, and specifically designated personnel are authorized to issue citations for parking and Registration violations in accordance with University of Florida Regulations 3.011 Control of Traffic, 3.006 Parking, and 3.0051 Lost or Abandoned Property, and this Policy.
6.1.2 Vehicles may park only in areas intended for parking as defined by pavement striping, wheel stops, signage, or other markings. The absence of No Parking signs, curb markings, or other indicators does not mean parking is allowed. Posted regulations on signage in parking facilities shall apply at all times (24-hours/7-days).
6.1.3 Drivers of two or three-wheeled motor scooters must park in Motorcycle/scooter parking zones as designated. They may not park in automobile spaces, except for metered spaces.
6.1.4 Any individual operating or parking a vehicle on Campus in violation of these Regulations and Policies may be issued a citation for the offense. Additionally, the vehicle may be subject to Impoundment, depending on the nature of the offense and prior citation history.
6.1.5 The individual identified as the vehicle registrant or Permit owner is responsible for any citations and fees associated with the use of their vehicle or Permit.
6.2 Vehicle Impoundment
6.2.1 An individual whose vehicle has been Impounded may request a Probable Cause Hearing, provided a request is made within fifteen calendar days from the date of Impoundment, to determine if there was probable cause for impounding the vehicle. The hearing shall be held within three Business Days from receipt of the written request.
6.2.2 If the hearing officer finds there was not probable cause to impound the vehicle, it shall be released without requiring the owner to pay impound charges. If the vehicle was previously released upon payment, such payment shall be refunded. If the hearing officer finds that there was probable cause to impound the vehicle, it will remain impounded until all delinquent penalties are paid in full.
6.2.3 In lieu of the Probable Cause Hearing, or pending such hearing, or if probable cause is found at such hearing, the owner of the vehicle or his or her agent may obtain release of the vehicle by paying the impound charges and all associated delinquent fines.
6.2.4 Failure to request a Probable Cause Hearing within fifteen calendar days from the date of Impoundment constitutes a waiver of said hearing and the vehicle shall be released only upon payment of the impound charges and all delinquent fines.
6.2.5 Fines and fees related to a vehicle Impoundment are the responsibility of the vehicle’s registered owner or Permit owner and must be paid in full before the vehicle may be released. For a University owned vehicle, the fine and fee shall be paid by the department to which the vehicle is assigned.
7 Questions
Questions about this policy or reports of suspected violations should be directed to:
Transportation and Parking Services
taps.ufl.edu
352-392-7275
sefox@ufl.edu
History
History: New 4-21-2022, Amended 10-27-2022 (substantive).