SPECIAL REPORT: Parking at UTEP remains a problem despite new parking garages

The University of Texas at El Paso has spent tens of millions of dollars in parking garages, but students say parking is still a major issue with the school’s parking system.

UTEP is home to more than 25,000 students, and as they prepared to go to class, they didn’t hesitate to stop and answer the question: How do you feel about UTEP’s parking situation?

“The parking sucks,” said Tristan Ahlgren. “I think it’s unfair,” said Alejandra Salas.

“I think it’s a mess,” said Juan Rabelo. “It’s always expensive,” said Vashti Meza.

In 2010, UTEP built the $13 million Glory Road transfer center as part of a partnership with the City of El Paso. The parking garage is located at the corner of Oregon and Glory Road across the street from the Don Haskins Center. A student parking permit for the garage costs about $142 a year.

Recently, the campus also built two garages on its south end to accommodate student parking. The cost to park in those garages is $324 a year.

There’s one problem though. Students say, although they’ve paid the price for parking permits, they are not guaranteed a spot and some told ABC-7 there aren’t any parking spaces available in the mornings.

“Most students don’t buy parking permits they usually park in the neighborhoods and end up having to walk a thirty 30-minute walk to class,” Meza said.

ABC-7 crews caught students parking a little more than a mile away at the intersection of Upton and Los Angeles Drive.

Google maps shows it’s closer to walk to the Chihuahuas’ stadium than it is to the campus.

The university has provided a shuttle service to and from campus parking locations, but students told ABC-7 that leads to other problems.

“Some of the shuttles are packed,” said student Lauren Rodriguez. “Everyone is packed in like sardines,” said student Melissa Duran.

Taking a chance on the next shuttle could make them late for class. Students told ABC-7 they resort to parking without a permit.

“I have close to eight parking tickets,” Ahlgren said. “I actually received one yesterday for $50,” Duran said.

“It’s like ‘oh, another ticket,'” added Ahlgren. “They just keep adding up,” Duran said.

“I’d rather pay the parking tickets than that,” said Ahlgren, adding he prefers to face the fines rather than the price of the parking permit.

UTEP records obtained by ABC-7 through an open records request show, that in 2016, the university collected $74,650 for no decals or expired decals.

ABC-7 reached out to UTEP in November, January and again a week ago for an on-camera interview about what it does with the money collected and what plans it has to fix the parking problems. The university did not provide anyone for this story but did send the following statement:

“Parking and Transportation Services (PTS) does not receive University funding. It is considered an “auxiliary enterprise” that is required to generate its own funds and pay for day-to-day operating expenses, such as department wages, maintenance of parking lots, staff uniforms, utilities, etc. PTS must also pay all expenses related to operating the University’s shuttle system and the annual debt service obligation associated with both garages. The department’s main sources of revenue are parking permit fees, citation fees collected, and parking meter revenue.”

As far as finding a solution to address the students’ concerns UTEP said: “PTS is currently working with the City’s Sun Metro bus system to identify ways to promote use of public transportation to campus.”

Students ABC-7 spoke with have some suggestions. “I think there should be some type of change or reform,” Rabelo said.

“It should be a first come, first serve type of thing,” Salas said. “Maybe if they would limit the quantity that they sell it would be a lot better,” Fabian Alvarado said.

“There’s definitely spots where they can build parking structures,” Alejandro Holguin said. “I think they should be a little more lenient on the parking tickets,” Rodriguez said.

With enrollment continuing to climb, the parking problem is likely to stay as a growing pain.