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It’s normal for the winter weather to push more people to drive to campus instead of walking or biking. It’s not normal for some of the campus’s parking lots to be more than 90 percent full.

While Transportation Services, or TAPS, works to develop additional strategies to avoid the very expensive cost of building another parking garage, it will provide a temporary solution: stack parking.

Attendants will be on hand starting Monday (Feb. 13) in the on Howard Way and off La Rue Road near the Tercero Residence Halls, to expand the capacity of both. You'll be able to park normally in open spots, but once all the spots are full, you’ll be parking in an aisle and you’ll leave your keys with an attendant from vendor Corinthian International Parking Services. There is no charge for stack parking.

The service will accommodate 120 more cars in the Quad Parking Structure and 100 more cars in Lot 47.

“We’re pleased to be able to offer this temporary service to our customers during this period of heightened demand,” TAPS Director Cliff Contreras said.

TAPS plans to offer the service — which costs around $36,000 a month for the two locations — through the end of winter quarter. By then, the warmer weather usually has more people out of their cars and onto bicycles or other forms of transportation, Contreras said.

Parking utilization will be evaluated to determine if stack parking will be needed in the fall.

For now, here’s how stack parking works:

• If all of the spaces in Lot 47 or the Quad Parking Structure are full, an attendant will direct you to park in an aisle.
• You’ll leave your keys with the attendant, who may move your car throughout the day as other drivers need to leave.
• Stack parking will be offered from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you return after 6 p.m., you can get your keys from a TAPS employee in the kiosk at the entry of the Quad Parking Structure until 9:30 p.m. Miss that deadline and you’ll have to pick up your keys in the morning from an attendant where you originally parked. TAPS suggests bringing a spare set of keys if you know you’ll be returning to your car after 9:30.
• The attendants will wear company jackets or shirts, and have visible ID badges.