UNC Asheville Restricts Freshman Parking Beginning Fall Semester;
A Host of Other Transportation Options in Planning Stages

UNC Asheville announced today that freshman residential students will no longer be permitted to bring cars to campus beginning in August 2005. The new policy is a significant step in implementing a long-range initiative to manage traffic and parking challenges on campus. To that end, the University has already completed a traffic and parking study, is engaged in a campus master planning process and recently hired Transportation Planner Yuri Koslen to address campus parking and transportation needs.

“Most colleges face transportation challenges, especially parking.” said Koslen. “Parking can either manage the university or the university can manage parking. UNC Asheville has chosen to actively manage parking and to look more broadly at all our transportation options.

“The freshman parking restriction will not only reduce parking congestion on campus, but it will also create a more pedestrian friendly campus, help reduce air pollution and introduce students to a host of transportation alternatives.”

Parking restrictions will affect only incoming freshman residential students. Waivers will be available for students with certain medical conditions or those whose academic or athletic responsibilities require them to have a vehicle on campus. Freshman parking restrictions are in place on many campuses, including UNC Chapel Hill and Warren Wilson College.

UNC Asheville is developing a host of transportation alternatives for the campus community. Among them is the possible expansion of the Route 3 bus line hours of operation. This route, operated by the Asheville Transit System, currently allows access to downtown and along Merrimon Ave. from the UNC Asheville campus. “We understand and appreciate the challenges facing the University and look forward to working with them to define needs and means for the provision of additional services,” said Bruce Black, Asheville Transit System director.

The University is also considering a Guaranteed Ride to Campus service that offers a “safety net” for unseen travel emergencies. The service will be run in partnership with a local cab company and will offer rides back to campus during very late nighttime hours. Students will have a limited number of uses per semester.

Other transportation options include an online Ride Match Program, which will match students for rides home on weekends or holidays is expected to be in place this fall. The Ride Match Program will have a screening process in place to help ensure student safety.

In cooperation with the UNCA Outdoors Bike Shop, a commuter bike fleet is also being planned. Students will be able to rent bikes for short commutes and bike owners will be able to have their own bikes serviced.

The planning process for managing campus traffic, parking and transportation alternatives will continue this spring and will include further campus discussions involving faculty, staff and students.

“Students have been really excited about being involved in the changes,” said sophomore environmental studies major Erin McDonald. McDonald serves as executive of sustainability affairs on the Student Government Association and is a member of several campus environmental groups.

“When Yuri Koslen was hired, student organizations held a reception for him. We also presented him with a notebook full of student ideas for parking and transit alternatives,” said McDonald. “The University is already acting on some of our suggestions, including the freshman parking restriction. I know that some of the ideas aren’t totally original or were in the process of being enacted, but it feels really good to be so involved.”

Koslen believes that the restricted parking and transportation options will lead students to a lifetime habit of using transportation alternatives.

“It is my hope that by restricting cars during the freshman year, students will take advantage of other transportation options during their sophomore, junior and senior years and even after graduation,” said Koslen. “It’s just one more way that UNC Asheville is helping our students to become more involved in taking an active role in caring for their community and environment.

Media Contacts:

• Yuri Koslen, UNC Asheville Transportation Planner, 828/251-6691
• Jill Yarnall, UNC Asheville Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526