Amid ongoing issues surrounding parking policies, Quinnipiac University is changing its protocols for the fall to mitigate traffic congestion, including assigning parking lots by class year, opening a new exit in North Lot and adding an additional shuttle route. 

For residential students, parking will be determined based on class year in the following manner, according to an email sent to students by the One Stop Office July 27: 

• Seniors and juniors can park in specific Mount Carmel Campus lots. 
• Senior parking is permitted in North, Hilltop and Hogan lots. 
• Juniors can park on Hilltop and Hogan lots, but not North Lot. 
• Sophomores can no longer leave their vehicles on the Mount Carmel campus and must park instead in the York Hill garage or Westwoods lot. 
• The policy will remain that first-year students are not permitted to have vehicles on campus. 

Sophomore students who live on the Mount Carmel Campus and commute to classes in North Haven or the Theatre Arts Center or have accommodations have the option to undergo an appeals process to request that their vehicles be kept in Mount Carmel lots, One Stop wrote. 

When determining parking spots, “class year” is based on credits earned. However, all students in their first year will be considered first years under the parking policy even if they have more credits, Associate Director of Public Relations John Pettit told The Chronicle. 

All commuter students who have paid the $90 per semester parking fee can park on North, Hilltop and Hogan lots. Though the implementation of the fee earlier this year has been controversial, it will remain in effect for the coming school year. 

Commuters will have to pay the full, annual price of $180 before being permitted to park on campus, Pettit said. However, the email announcement said the expense may now be reviewed based on the financial need of the student. 

“Public safety will strictly enforce the new (parking) regulations,” Pettit wrote in an email to The Chronicle. “But we don’t anticipate an increase in parking and towing.” 

In addition to new parking lot regulations, One Stop said the university will allow students to exit North Lot eastward onto Mount Carmel Avenue by the athletic fields in order to reduce the congestion that resulted from having one point of entry and exit. 

To accommodate the building of the South Quad project, South Lot and the New Road entrance will be temporarily closed following move-in, according to One Stop. Drivers entering Hilltop Lot will instead be asked to enter through the facilities entrance on New Road. 

During the closure of South Lot, One Stop said that there will be a temporary shuttle stop in use in the Hardwood Gate Lot. The South Lot shuttle stop will be closed during that period. 

A group of MBA students helped to recommend these new policies to administration and the Student Government Association by conducting surveys and research on traffic flow, according to the July 27 announcement. 

Colin Gosselin, a junior film major, said that he thinks the solution to parking unavailability is in adding more parking, not restricting it further. 

“I’ll be living on York this year and so I’ll be in and out of the garage a lot for my classes,” Gosselin said. “That parking garage is going to be a nightmare, (seeing) as the other lots on York fill up rather quick.” 

Juliana Hamel, a junior public relations major, said that she believes the MBA student input in updating these protocols will make policies more effective, because students have more first-hand experience with parking and traffic congestion issues than administration. 

“I think the new policies will help with congestion, just by limiting who gets to park where helps work out the big problem of too many people in one place,” Hamel said. “I think it will also help with parking availability, at least during the weekdays when people really need to get on campus.”

As an additional method of transportation, the university is launching a “York Hill Express” which will only run on weekdays exclusively between the York Hill and Mount Carmel campuses, during the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. 

Pettit said Quinnipiac will update its website with new shuttle routes and assign each bus a color when the new shuttle schedule is finalized later this month. 

Hamel, who qualifies for a senior parking spot in North Lot because of her credits, said that she sees the new shuttle as a good alternative to driving to class. 

“I’m living on York this year so just knowing that I’ll have a spot close to my classes is great,” Hamel said. “I also have access to the express shuttle, so even if parking is still an issue, at least I can get on a shuttle and get to class relatively quickly.” 

However, Gosselin said he will not use the shuttle to get between campuses instead of his vehicle because he believes the new policies will lead to crowded shuttles. 

“(The shuttles) weren’t the most reliable last year,” Gosselin said. “I doubt that they’ll be any better this year.” 

Students, faculty and staff will all be required to update their parking decals this year. The community will receive an email later in the summer from One Stop with a link and directions on how to register their vehicles and apply for a parking fee based on where they can park, according to the announcement. Commuters must also pay the parking fee at that time.