Parking, Work Style...

In an earlier post, I alluded to the parking situation at the U. and how it relates to my new job.

Forty years ago, the hospital was basically on the edge of town, and of course, was far smaller than it is today. As it grew, parking needs changed, naturally. Today the U employs around 7000 people. In order to accomodate those parking needs, employee parking lots were created. Some lots are outlying. All lots are assigned according to your home base in the hospital.

The lot I'm assigned to is between 2-3 miles from the hospital. The U has a bus system that is free to users, and is in service Monday-Friday unless it's during a university break. These buses are designed to not only make it convenient for students to get around town and campus, they're also designed to help employees get to and from their parking lots.

Although I pay for a tag for a lot, I don't utilize it, instead preferring to park in a parking ramp close to the hospital and paying a reduced fee for having that lot permit. The reason I park in the ramp is convenience: since I work part-time hours, my leave time hits a time sequence that is not a direct route to the lot; instead, it takes a meandering trip around the hospital complex, the dental complex, down and around the "strip" and past the VA complex, then through student housing, only then arriving at the parking lot. This takes about 45 minutes. My leave time also hits about 20 minutes prior to the bus arriving at the hospital, so it takes me nearly an hour to get back to my car.

Quite frankly, I have better things to do with my time than to wait an hour to get back to my vehicle, so I opt to pay about $1.45 per day in parking ramp fees to get on with my day. I don't think that is such a bad deal. And, we can put our names on a list to upgrade to closer parking lots. Those upgrades are based on how long you've been working at the hospital, and the rate at which other employees leave or retire and give up their permits. My next upgrade is a closer lot with buses running every 15 minutes direct to the hospital and back to the lot. I'm currently #62 on the list, and I've been on the list since my hire date three years ago.

So, here I am with a new, full-time job. But, the downside is that the job requires that I be at work and *ready* to work at 4:00 a.m.

The first bus arrives at my current lot at 5:10 a.m. and at my upgrade lot at 4:20 a.m. There are only two of us who are transferring to NICU who have a start time that doesn't correspond to a bus schedule.

Therein lies the problem.

By going to full time, it changes the parking ramp fees. Currently I get a break because I enter the ramp after 5 a.m. So, I only have to pay that small fee based in part, to my arrival time. When I up that time to arrival between 3:30 and 4:00, my charges will begin at 8:30 a.m. till I leave at approximately 12:45 p.m. and will cost me about $4.65 per day. There's a big difference between $1.45 and $4.65.

So, the people "upstairs" have been trying to work with Parking and Transporation to figure out a way to get their two 4 a.m. employees a safe, convenient place to park, not because of my ramp fees, but because there is no bus service to the hospital at that time.

Parking and Transportation doesn't want to play nice. In fact, they don't give a rat's patootie about the situation, or the safety of we who must work there...and liberated woman or not, I don't relish the thought of walking 2-3 miles in the middle of the night, let alone in rainy or winter weather.

My bosses, the head of Pathology and the doctors in the NICU have made it clear to P&T that our start time does not correspond to the bus schedule, nor will it in the future. They asked that we be given two parking spaces in the parking lot just west of where I park now...a five minute walk at most. This lot always has plenty of open spaces due to people having days off during the week, or sick or vacation days.

But, as far as P&T is concerned, those spaces have already been "assigned". Doesn't matter if they're empty. They ARE ASSIGNED. And, they don't care that there are empty spaces that aren't being utilized each day. THEY ARE ASSIGNED. PERIOD.

P&T wants us to utilize the Night/Weekend pass. This pass lets us park in any of the ramps for the very nice sum of about $8.00 a month. Sounds good, until you read the fine print which says that on the NW pass you must vacate the lot no later than 8:30 a.m. or be subject to your vehicle being towed, or being ticketed.

So. Then you have to think about moving your car.

There are two problems with that. First of all, the U doesn't want employees on the clock to leave work and move their cars on company time. They don't care if you move your car, but you have to use your lunch half hour to do so. So, unless you want to brown bag it in the company of a crowded bus, smelling of diesel, cigarette smoke and unwashed bodies in the summertime, you're just screwed out of your lunch hour.

But, let's go another step forward. Let's say that you decide that two fifteen minute breaks a day is okay with you and you choose to use that lunch time for car moving time.

Uh, oh...better look at the rules for that night pass again. It clearly states that if you have a night/weekend pass, you are not permitted to have any other lot pass.
So....where are we supposed to park our cars when we can't use a university lot?

Oh. That's not P&T's problem. That's OUR problem. We just have to get our cars out of the ramp, or be subject to a $25/day fine. That's right...$25 a DAY. And, if we accumulate $150.00 in fines, we're subject to our car getting towed, and we have to pay all those towing and storage fees as well.

Good thing I got a raise, huh?

I do have a plan, though. If they can't resolve this issue before we go to work, I plan on parking at my lot and calling the Safety and Security team to come pick me up. And, if all goes well, they can bring my co-worker in the same vehicle, otherwise they're going to have to make two trips. I wonder how long Safely and Security will be okay with coming to pick us up each day? I wonder if they will be able to put enough pressure on P&T to get a reasonable change made?

I wonder if complaining to the Board of Regents would make a difference? Doubtful, but someone really needs to do some surgery to remove the cob up the collective asses of the folks in Parking and Transportation. I'm sure there are plenty of docs who'd love to do so...and I'll bet they'd do it for free and with great glee as well.

I'll be glad to assist. "Oops, Doc, sorry, dropped that scalpel in the commode... you still want it?"