UF students and faculty have been receiving fewer parking tickets.
About five months ago, UF’s Transportation and Parking Services changed parking decals on University Avenue to only allow students to park there. Since then, there has been a slight decrease in overall parking citations issued to students.
In November and December of 2014, 7,270 parking citations were issued, and in November and December of 2015, only 6,976 citations were issued, said Scott Fox, the director of Transportation and Parking Services.
After a series of assaults that occurred in Fall 2014, safety and security have been a priority at UF, he said. Fox said more police have been brought on campus at night to increase security and student safety. All efforts have been “combined with a general and genuine desire to make campus more safe,” Fox said.
Marilyn Smith, a first-year UF early childhood education graduate student, said she parked in the Norman Hall garage without a decal two weeks ago.
The 23-year-old said while she’s parked there before, she’s never gotten a ticket.
“I was really nervous, but I was really happy I didn’t have a ticket,” she said.
Smith said she’s glad UF hasn’t been ticketing at Norman. She didn’t want to miss class because of a decal restriction.
“To be honest, I was feeling really sick and didn’t want to take the bus, so I decided to drive,” she said.
