UCF’s parking pinch yields 43,000 tickets, $1.3M in ’16
The driver of the red Oldsmobile was one of the worst offenders at UCF, racking up about $1,000 in unpaid parking tickets.
The student failed to outwit parking enforcement as he regularly bought new license plates instead of getting a parking permit.
“He ended up paying his citations,” said UCF facility specialist Manuel Guerrero, retelling the story from about 15 years ago. “That’s the highest one we’ve had since I’ve worked here.”
Parking tickets are a big business at the University of Central Florida, one of the nation’s largest schools where about 45,000 students, faculty and staff daily visit the main campus, home of 18,000 parking spaces.
Last year, the department issued nearly 43,000 citations — a 19 percent jump from 2015 — that brought in $1.25 million in fines, according to an Orlando Sentinel analysis of records provided by UCF. The fines cover operating expenses such as the parking enforcement salaries and debt on parking garage construction.
UCF parking enforcement staff said they have no quota for writing tickets. Their priority is making
sure everybody follows the rules and that their enforcement is fair throughout campus.
On social media, parking and citations are regular fodder for students’ complaints.
One woman posted a photograph of paying her $30 fine in quarters as snarky revenge.
“UCF tends to never really have parking spots due to the amount of students we have,” said freshman Catherine Le, who got six tickets during the fall semester last year when she parked at places not allowed for her permit.
“The first [ticket] was usually, ‘Wow, this really sucks. It’s fine. I’ll pay it off.’ Then it kept coming. I got more and more agitated. ‘This can’t keep happening to me.’ ”
Her boyfriend, a University of North Florida student, drove down to Orlando to visit her, and soon it became a competition between the couple to see who got the most tickets. Le won. “I’ve gotten none this semester,” said Le, a DeBary resident who is studying biomedical sciences. “Thank God.”
The Sentinel analysis of the 2016 data, which did not include names to protect the privacy of students, showed the most ticketed month was February when 5,371 tickets were issued.
August was the slowest month since many went home for the summer and enforcement is typically more lenient during the start of the new semester as students learn the rules. That month, there were only 1,145 tickets.
One day stood out — May 19, 2016.
UCF Parking Services issued 455 tickets, the most given for a single day during the year, which generated $13,055 in fines.
On that day, Winter Springs and East River high schools practiced commencement ceremonies at CFE Arena.
It was also the first week of summer classes.
UCF spokeswoman Rachel Williams said there was “no rhythm or reason” as to what set May 19 apart. On the same day in 2015, only 53 tickets were issued.
She attributed the yearover-year increase to several factors. She pointed to the school’s growing school enrollment as well as a temporary staffing problem in parking enforcement in 2015.
The most likely place to get a ticket last year was Parking Garage H, the bustling place near the arena, Memory Mall and several popular academic buildings. It was where about 5,000 tickets, or 12 percent of all tickets, were given out last year.
Most infractions, like not having a proper UCF permit, draw a $30 fine. However, others — such as parking in a disabled spot, which happened 24 times last year — brought penalties as high as $250 per violation.
Everything from sports cars to scooters got a ticket, including 6,499 Toyotas, 1,978 Volkswagens, 31 Hummers, 21 Harley-Davidsons, three Lamborghinis, two Ferraris, and one red Vespa.
But the parking team of 14 patrollers — primarily paid student positions — are also the unofficial AAA of campus.
In 2016, they jump-started 810 dead batteries and unlocked nearly 240 car doors to retrieve keys, all for free, according to the university.
“The big thing is people don’t realize we’re not just here to write tickets and enforce,” said Callie Wright, a senior parking patroller. “We’re here to help.”
There was the sorority who called UCF parking services for help so many times that the women baked the parking staff brownies.
Or the track athlete who regularly went for a morning run and locked her keys in her car.
Guerrero, the parking manager, said he estimates parking services helped the runner about once or twice a week for the entire 2007-08 school year.
“It hit the point where she knew us by name,” he said. “We knew her by name. We always laughed and joked with her every time we showed up. After a while, we told her, ‘Maybe you should just give us a spare key. It might save us time.’ ”
Some parking enforcement staff walk up to 13 miles on daily shifts across campus.
They are trained to look for suspicious things or help the campus visitors who forgot where they parked.
They look for fake parking permits on vehicles. Occasionally, they deal with students frustrated and angry about getting a ticket — moments they were trained for by human resources.
“We cover a lot of ground,” Guerrero said. “We see a lot of things.”
UCF recognizes the need for more parking, Williams said. She added that the school is in early discussions about building a possible 1,100-space parking garage, although the project has not been approved and is likely two to three years from being completed.
There are other transportation options for students, such as the park-andride lot near the football stadium, Guerrero said. UCF also has a shuttle bus system with routes on campus and to nearby apartments off campus.
Because of the parking squeeze, it seems likely the complaints will continue. But some take it in snarky stride.
One UCF student flaunted her parking tickets on her mortarboard during graduation last year.