Gary Prescott
Jonathan Rhodes/ The Lion's Roar 

University Parking Office and Shuttle Services have been merged to form Transportation Services. Gary Prescott, formerly the director of Shuttle Services, is now the interim director of this new office.

The goal in merging the two offices is to offer more customer support to the students.

“The reason it was decided to merge was to make a more customer-friendly approach to parking and to shuttle services,” said Prescott. “Both offices are services that are offered to the students. Taking them away from the police department takes a little bit of the enforcement side out of parking and more of a student-friendly approach.”

Vice President of the Division for Student Affairs Eric Summers appointed Prescott as the interim director. Prescott looks forward to the challenge and the responsibility.

“I’m actually kind of excited of the blending of the two services coming together,” said Prescott. “I like people to see the parking department as a positive resource on campus and more than just an enforcement agent of trying to get people tickets. There is more that we can do than just punish people for parking out of zone.”

This new role for Prescott gives him different responsibilities and complete control of the direction of transportation on campus.

“It’s more dealing with some of our employee relations and campus relations along with maintenance and repair schedules,” said Prescott. “Parking lot and road improvements are also part of it. We are providing educational resources to prompt our students to not only park right but also to make them aware of some of the things that we have available to them.”

Prescott is planning to implement some services for students in the upcoming months.

“Our parking guards will start assisting students with car starts,” said Prescott. “In case a student’s battery dies, we can start their cars with battery packs. We can also assist them with flat tires by bringing an air pump that will help them air their tire back to a place where they can get it repaired. You will start seeing some crossing guards at Friendship Circle to help students and pedestrians get across the crosswalk in a safer manner, to control the traffic going through Friendship Circle, and to help our students get to class in a timely manner.”

As the Shuttle Services director, Prescott made sure that there are enough buses going through the Green and Gold routes that students can get around campus easier and quicker.

“We now have up to four buses running at one time,” said Prescott. “Two buses on our Green route side and two buses on our Gold route side during our peak times.”

Students will have the opportunity to get involved in Transportation Services and have a on-campus job.

“There will be a couple of openings for some student ticket writers coming about,” said Prescott. “If any students are looking for part-time employment for Monday through Thursday from 8 to 4 and Fridays from 8 to 12, we have five possible positions for students that can earn up to 20 hours a week.”

Prescott is tackling the issue of parking immediately by trying to educate students on how to find parking without being late for class.

“One of the things that we are doing right now is starting a park smart campaign,” said Prescott. “We are really encouraging our students to think about where they park and how they park before they even come to campus. Knowing the challenges that we face out there with the construction that is currently going on, students just need to be aware of when they are coming to school to allow themselves a lot of time to get to their parking spot. Do not circle the same lot for 30 minutes because the odds of someone leaving at that time are very slim. Since the first day of school, there has been parking available on North Campus and near North Oak Park. I know it seems so far away, but it is only a three-minute walk from our nearest bus stop, and the bus can get you to campus within 10 minutes.”

Not only does Transportation Services want to educate the students on parking, but they also want to reward students who park well and follow the rules. Through their park smart campaign, students will randomly receive a prize for parking in their correct parking lot.

“You might come to your car one day, and if you park in a legal spot, you might get an I-Park smart ticket,” said Prescott. “We partnered with Auxiliary Services to give individual students a free meal or free item from one of the on-campus dining establishments.

Transportation Services are hoping to help students with parking issues on campus.
Jonathan Rhodes/The Lion’s Roar