UWS parking. If you were a UWS student it can be anyone’s guess that at the mention of these words would be accompanied by a frown or a scoff, because we were all thinking it…. UWS parking is a joke it seems. Ask any student on campus that drives to uni and it’s safe to say that the parking on campus could be very much improved.

So for those of you readers that are wondering what’s going down at UWS, to put it simply, there is never enough parking on campus.

The video shown below was published in 2011, further proving that this is an ongoing issue that has not been addressed properly.

This article is being written so we can explore what is actually happening with the several issues going on with the student parking at UWS, Parramatta campus and what can be done about it.

Upon questioning a few students about their opinions on the UWS parking, it has been summarized that quite a number are not happy about it.

“The parking here is terrible,”

Samantha Rijono comments, “it takes me about forty minutes to get here and I spend about another twenty minutes circling around trying to find an empty spot.”

The first year Tourism Management student also explained the times when she was redirected by parking attendants to park on the grass area on the South campus, “they hadn't even set it up and eventually just asked me to come back to the North Campus since it started emptying up.”

UWS Parramatta Parking Issues is a public Facebook page created to raise community awareness of the rising parking issue on campus.

“Unfortunately, there are so many issues with this car park(s),”

the page operator says and has been monitoring the concerns through a survey to identify the major problems.

The responses from the survey completed by students have concluded that:

1. Firstly, the available parking space to student ratio is ridiculously low

2. The students are charged a minimum of $300 a year and the university have only increased the number of spots for the more expensive permits that cost around $600 per year — this is obviously an issue to the students who do minimal working hours during their study periods

3. The main car park (P1) is a flood zone and is often closed during heavy rain periods

4. Many students claim that they have to leave 2–3 hours early from their homes in order to make it to their classes on time due to insufficient parking

5. Students tend to skip their classes and not prioritizing their education due to the inability to find a car spot

6. Several car parks have been closer and therefore have limited spots

After asking Sandy Cheu at the designated motorcycle parking spots, the UWS Business student confesses that she rides her motorbike to class because she know she is almost guaranteed a parking spot on the designated spaces for her bike,

“I admit that it’s be more comfortable driving in a car for the long trip to uni but it’d take forever to find a car spot anyways.”

Although the staff contacted through the UWS Parking student hotline did not make any concrete statement as their current supervisor wasn’t present for an unknown period, the official UWS Parking page on their website states that they recognize there is a high demand for student parking on the Parramatta Campus and have claimed that there are “significant heritage protection issues” associated with the campus and restricts certain contruction and development.

On this note, it may be the case that there may be several reasons on why the university has not addressed such an important issue yet, with a major factor ebing the surrounding housing and residents.

Another factor could be that the university could be focusing their efforts on expanding their campus to the Parramatta CBD as The Daily Telegraph writes that the uni plans to open up a Postgraduate School of Business at the heart of Parramatta and the statement released by UWS say that they plan to “lay foundations” in Liverpool by creating a new campus, which could potentially free up more space at the current main Campus.

There has also been a bit of relief among students who travel via public transport as UWS has finally announced in May that they will be allowing students access to the Opal Scheme making fares a bit cheaper to travel to and from classes.

However, the issue still at hand is that UWS is not clearly addressing the Parramatta Parking Issue to the best of their abilities.

UWS Parramatta Parking Issues has offered some practical solutions to solve the matter such as:

1. Creating a multilevel car park
2. Utilizing some grass space for parking
3. Limting permits to a level where students can actually get a spot
4. Possibly make parking fares a bit cheaper

Other suggestions by students were made such as building a split-level car park if a multi level is not possible and also fixing up the North Campus car park by replacing the gravel areas with cement for safer parking.

It is understood that there are of course, issues with surrounding residents and heritage protection issues but it’s encouraged that the University replies to this demand and perhaps set up a discussion between students and UWS Council so there can be an agrred solution to settle the matter at hand.

All in all, this is merely the early peak of a local issue that many students find important, it is highly encouraged to leave comments below on what you think the issues are at UWS at the moment and how it can be solved.