The Star wants to hear from you about parking
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6 Total Questions
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Question 1/6
Are you a student, faculty member or neither?
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Question 1/6
Are you a student, faculty member or neither?
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I'm a student
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I'm a faculty member
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I'm neither
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Question 2/6
How do you commute to campus?
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Question 2/6
How do you commute to campus?
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I take the Texas State bus
Your Answer
I park at the football stadium then walk to campus
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I park at one of the purple commuter parking garages
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I park at one of the red parking lots/garages.
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Question 3/6
If you don't have a red parking permit, how often do you risk getting towed or a parking ticket to park in a red parking lot?
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Question 3/6
If you don't have a red parking permit, how often do you risk getting towed or a parking ticket to park in a red parking lot?
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Never
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1-2 times a week
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3-4 times a week
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Every time I drive to campus
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I have a red parking permit
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Question 4/6
Do you think $40 parking tickets that increase to $55 if not paid within 10 days are too expensive?
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Question 4/6
Do you think $40 parking tickets that increase to $55 if not paid within 10 days are too expensive?
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Yes
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No
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Question 5/6
Do you think there should be more available parking for those commuting to campus?
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Question 5/6
Do you think there should be more available parking for those commuting to campus?
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Yes
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No
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Question 6/6
Tell us how you would improve parking at Texas State in the comments under this survey. The University Star will select one comment to be shown in the Sep. 25 issue alongside the findings of this survey.
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Question 6/6
Tell us how you would improve parking at Texas State in the comments under this survey. The University Star will select one comment to be shown in the Sep. 25 issue alongside the findings of this survey.
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I commented.
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No comment.
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Karlie • Sep 25, 2023 at 4:39 pm
I believe there need to be more parking available for students at Texas State. Non freshman students must live off campus and majority have to commute someway in order to get to campus. While busses are provided they are typically over crowded and lack air conditioning. Those who choose to drive can rarely get parking passes as most of them get taken up by freshman living in the dorms. I believe more parking should be available for commuting students and parking should be at cheaper rates. Parking tickets are also an issue. You can park in an empty parking lot that is designed as “red permit” and get a ticket for $40. This is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed!
Alexandra V. • Sep 20, 2023 at 9:31 pm
I live in Manchaca and commute to school 4 days a week. This is my first semester at TX state, but I remember my friends who went here and graduated in 2014 were also complaining about parking back then, so I doubt that I will be here long enough to see change. This is disheartening too because I paid $400 for the bus service plus $115 for the purple pass, plus $45 for a parking ticket already… imagine hundreds of students being in the same position I am… that would certainly pay for a new parking a garage very quickly.
I have been over an hour late to class already several times because I could not find parking.
The answer starts with more parking garages where there are just ground level lots. Above and below ground spots, with green/red lights above the spots to indicate which ones are available and which ones are filled like at the Whole Foods in downtown. There should also be a notice that tells drivers if the entire garage is already full (or if there are X available red or purple spaces) or not so they don’t waste 15 mins getting to the top of the garage to find zero available spots.
There needs to be direct, and faster transportation from the lots that are further away as well, a 30 bus ride with such limited seating to and from where I have left my car is totally unacceptable, what if I need to get home in an emergency, now my car is at least a 45 min trek away unless I call an Uber or ask someone for a ride to my car.
I think underground lots are an awesome idea, they’d be cooler (temp wise) than above ground lots, could be used as shelter if there were a natural disaster maybe. Throw in some solar panels to help offset the cost of the electricity needed to keep them lit.
Idk, also maybe present this problem to the engineering students specifically? Give a free parking pass to the student or team that comes up with the best answer.
Andrew Bauer • Sep 20, 2023 at 11:54 am
Parking is a hassle, especially when you come from a place where parking isn’t a problem, but I believe, unlike others, that we should put more resources into other forms of transportation like more busses, better access for people not in cars and over better environment to walk. Walking is hard only because it is so hot outside, being in the sun is deadly, one of my roommates almost passed out when they got to our dorm. Now, in order to combat this, we should put more shade in areas where shade is not given especially around bus stops and pathways everyone takes. Trees are the ultimate answer to the shade problem, trees help provide shade, more spots for wildlife to live and can help with flooding problems too. Ultimately, more transportation options and better tree placement would help get people out of their cars and get to walking more. But if building parking lots is a must, then I would suggest building parking lots underground since they would not be an eyesore and provides more space. The parking garage under the LBJ walkway is a perfect example to follow, although they could have made more levels deeper under ground.
Jordan • Sep 20, 2023 at 5:08 pm
I agree with your idea of having more shade spots. Tree would be nice, if plausible, but a bench underneath an awning type structure would work just as well. Although I think you’re onto something, I don’t know how plausible building parking underground would be, not to mention expensive.
Eryn • Sep 20, 2023 at 8:59 am
I live in one of the popular apartment complexes on the bus routes. On my way to the bus, I see so many students that park at the front of my apartment and then get on the bus. The bus is around a 30 minute trip so I can’t imagine how long students have to plan ahead just to get to one class. But they still are at risk for getting towed by the apartment every day. I feel like we should have a larger parking garage specifically for commuters with plenty of shuttle busses to and from Texas State University. I’m not a professional when it comes to parking issues but clearly this isn’t working.
Macy • Sep 19, 2023 at 3:34 pm
I take the bus for the most part, but I also have a commuter pass because I don’t want to get towed if I park on campus at night to go to the library or for the occasional time I drive to class. I chose the apartment I live at because I know how bad parking is, and I wanted to be able to take the bus to avoid trying to find parking every day. It would be nice if there was at least some kind of parking counting system that shows the number of free spaces in a specific lot on the TXST app instead of having to drive to look for spaces and worry about being late to class. Parking is expensive enough that I should at least be able to consistently use my parking pass without worrying about finding a space.
Zach • Sep 15, 2023 at 1:43 am
The university does not need more parking. In fact, it has too much parking. A parking lot does nothing for the school or the city other than house private property at the expense of housing, jobs, educational facilities, the environment, and tax revenue, on top of the added cost of maintenance. On the weekends and during term breaks, these lots remain empty and ugly. A university of this size cannot physically accommodate a scenario where every student, professor, and staff member commutes by personal automobile. That is why Texas State provides the shuttle system for students in town, in additional to city infrastructure for walking and cycling, which is currently insufficient and should be expanded instead. I would rather more funding be given to these alternative forms of transportation because they make better use of limited space, limited resources, funding, and make for a safer, more social, more healthy community. I’m sympathetic to students who do not live in San Marcos but I do not believe the current parking supply is insufficient if reserved only for students not accommodated by the shuttle system or proximity to campus. Some people won’t be satisfied until the entire Hill Country is one giant sea of asphalt. San Marcos has had enough.
James • Sep 14, 2023 at 12:08 pm
There definitely needs to be more and closer parking available for commuters, I have to pay for a parking pass that gives me the opportunity to park another ~20 minutes each direction just to get from campus to the parking lot. Sure there are a couple commuter garages closer but if I’m not arriving to campus super early or late in the day, those lots are full, or I spend 20 minutes driving in circles hoping for a spot to open up. It feels like being punished for not living on campus, which is not even an option for me.
Reese Mcelmoyl • Sep 12, 2023 at 4:38 pm
Hello I am a senior at Texas State University. Personally I walk to campus and take the campus shuttle bus occasionally from where I leave, but I honestly believe that there should more parking or parking lots available for people who commute to campus. I think this because I have multiple friends and people I have met that have said they have such trouble finding parking on campus that is not restricted. Some of those people I have met have even said that they have had such a hard time finding parking that they end up being super late for class or missing class all together. Which obviously would be affecting theirs academics and possibly their grades in class. I think a possible solution to this problem would be to add more commuter parking lots to campus or to make some of the restricted parking that is already on campus available to students and commuters.
Josiah Griffith • Sep 12, 2023 at 3:35 pm
I live on Campus rn as a freshman, but I think they should try to reposition on campus parking as a luxury type while making park and ride feasible for all students who have to commute (add an automated tram or shell out for more busses). With the higher funds from more expensive on campus parking, they should convert open surface parking lots to parking garages. To prevent having to drive (it’s dangerous, expensive, space hungry, inaccessible, and annoying), they should develop more transit oriented development on and off campus, with at least suitable rail systems (low operating cost, stuff like light rail, trams, etc), sufficient bike infrastructure (separated from car traffic, on pedestrianized streets, or with majority sidewalk distribution), or within a short walk of campus (with suitable pedestrian space).
TLDR: build actual transit, build more housing for non freshmen, and make parking an available and unnecessary luxury
Brady Headley • Sep 12, 2023 at 12:24 pm
Call me crazy, but I believe if you are paying $400 a YEAR for a service. Perhaps just maybe there should be a way of providing that service. Every time I drive away is filled with fear that I will return with nowhere to park except at a garage 15 minutes away or off campus all together. Texas State needs to fix their broken parking before making promises or charging such outrageous prices. But seeing that they are opening up several new dorms with no reasonable way for the residents of said dorms to reliably park, means Texas State is making no progress.
Felix • Sep 12, 2023 at 12:16 pm
There is not enough parking for the passes that parking allegedly says is equal to the amount of spots. Just this weekend I had to pay for parking at LBJ because there were no available spots after checking 4 parking garages. I already pay $400 for a parking spot, I should not have to pay additional money whenever I cannot find a spot anywhere on campus regardless of how close the lot is to my dorm.