“Improving Communication between Texas Tech Traffic and Parking
and Commuter West Lot Permit holders”
Prepared for:
Eric Crouch, Traffic and Parking Department Director
and the Texas Tech Traffic and Parking Department
Prepared by:
Matthew Callaway
Jessica Brown
Santana Dodier
Hannah Pulley
November 20, 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction…………………………………………………………..……….…3
Background.…………………………………………………………………......3
Solutions……………………………………………………………………...…4
Methods of Research………………………………………………………….....5
Results.………………………………………………………………………......6
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………7
Appendix……………………………………………………………………...…9
Commuter West Lot Map…………………….……………………….......…...10
Texas Tech Student Survey…………………………………………………....11
Survey of Other University’s Parking Services……………………………......12
Sign Design Estimate…………………………………………………………..13
Sample Sign…………………………………………………………………....14
INTRODUCTION
There are many students at Texas Tech University. Like any large body of people there
will be issues and complaints that each individual will experience. Texas Tech Traffic
and Parking has surely seen its fair share of this. We have proposed a way that could help
the Texas Tech Traffic and Parking staff cut down on the complaints and frustration.
There are various times during the year where portions of the west commuter parking lots
are closed for permit holders and opened for visitors. This can cause frustration to the
permit holders of these lots. In turn, when the permit holders experience these delays, it
can create many problems for the staff of Texas Tech Traffic and Parking. Sometimes the
dates these parking lots are closed are not communicated to the permit holders until that
same day. We feel that the communication between Texas Tech Traffic and Parking staff
and the permit holders for the commuter west parking lots could be improved. We have
three suggestions that could possibly save frustration for the staff at Texas Tech Traffic
and Parking and the permit holders of commuter west parking lots.
The three solutions that we have suggested should alleviate frustration between Texas
Tech Traffic and Parking and students by improving communication on lot closures in
the Commuter West lots. Information on the delays could be sent through emails to all
the parking permit holders. These emails could be sent two days prior to the closure of
the lots. Another suggestion is to place an informative advertisement in the Daily
Toreador one day prior to the schedule closure. Signs posted in the Commuter West
parking lots would be observed by a majority of the students who park in that lot and
would thus be an effective means of communication. These signs could be posted one or
two days prior to the closure of the parking lots. The down fall could be that the cost of
each sign might be a little higher than the budget allows, but it would allow the students
plenty of notice to make different arrangements.
This proposal will hopefully recognize the communication problems between the Traffic
and Parking staff and the Commuter West parking lot permit holders. The suggested
solutions will hopefully save some time and frustration for the Texas Tech Traffic and
Parking staff and Texas Tech students.
BACKGROUND
Parking on campus is an issue that affects both staff and students at Texas Tech
University. Any faculty or student that spends much time on campus must purchase
commuter parking permits, pay to park by the hour, or find some type of alternate
transportation. A Commuter West permit allows faculty and students to park in one of
seven lots. However, these lots are sometimes reserved when the university is having a
special event and needs a place for visitors to park.
There are many issues that Texas Tech Traffic and Parking staff are forced to deal with
everyday. The amount of issues can be overwhelming, so to cut down on the frustration,
our group has researched solutions that should effectively and efficiently alleviate some
of the problems that involve the staff of Texas Tech Traffic and Parking and Commuter
West parking permit holders. We feel that better communication between Texas Tech
Traffic and Parking and the permit holders is the key to solving many of these issues.
There are many times throughout the year in which parts of the Commuter West parking
lots are closed or reserved. With the research we have conducted, we realize that the
permit holders become frustrated on the lack of notification on lot closures. This causes
complaints to arise because permit holders are unable to plan ahead. We propose that
addressing the lack of communication between the university and the permit holders will
decrease frustration and increase more productive work time for both the staff at Texas
Tech Traffic and Parking and the Commuter West parking permit holders.
The research that we have done on the communication problem will give a first hand look
into the problems that the Commuter West parking permit holders are experiencing. The
information that we have collected will demonstrate what the permit holders themselves
think about the communication gap as well as how feasible the three proposed solutions
are. This will allow the staff at Texas Tech Traffic and Parking to pin-point the
communication problem and allow the staff to save time and money.
SOLUTIONS
We are presenting three possible solutions to the communication problem between Texas
Tech Traffic and Parking and Commuter West permit holders. We have chosen these
solutions because they are cost efficient and are expected to be effective. We also polled
twenty students on how they would prefer to be informed about a closed parking lot. The
results from the surveys are included in the results section of the proposal.
The first solution we are recommending is to send emails to Commuter West permit
holders two days before the lot is scheduled to be closed. Sending the email through the
TTU automated mailer may be quicker than the personal emails. However, a significant
amount of students do not read the automated daily emails. Most college students check
their personal email daily so it would be highly unlikely that the notification would be
overlooked if it was sent separate from the TTU automated email.
A problem with this method will be getting the correct email address for every Commuter
West permit holder. We asked five professors if sending mass emails to students was
cumbersome. Three out of the five professors surveyed said that they always receive at
least one automated response that says “Message Undeliverable” when sending a mass
email1. Therefore, this method may not be the most feasible or simple solution to the
communication problem.
Another relatively easy way to communicate parking delays will be to place an ad in the
Daily Toreador. A significant portion of students read the Daily Toreador and news
1
Kloiber, Lydia; Folds, Jonathan; Adams, Gwyneth; Hendrickson, Kendra; Comiskey George. Personal
Interviews. 13-15 Nov. 2006.
stands are located in every building on campus. We contacted the advertisement manager
of the Daily Toreador, Dawn Zuerker, to inquire if the Traffic and Parking department
would be charged to place an ad in the paper.
The third solution we are suggesting is to post “lot closed” signs at the entrances and
exits of the Commuter West lots. The signs should be posted at least two days prior to the
day the lot will be closed to ensure that a majority of permit holders will see them. We
have attached sample sign designs along with cost estimates for the signs in the appendix
of the proposal.
Using a combination of two or even all three of the methods would be even more
effective than using them individually. For example, placing an ad in the Daily Toreador
and posting signs at the entrances and exits of the lots would increase the amount of
students who were notified about alternative parking arrangements. It has been proven
that the more times you are reminded about something, the more likely you are to
remember it.
These are three, relatively simple solutions to the communication problem between Texas
Tech Traffic and Parking services and Commuter West permit holders. Since this
problem does not affect students living on campus, information regarding parking
arrangements must be distributed to students living off campus. Parking notices need to
be available to students in advance so that they have time to prepare to parking in a lot
further away.
METHODS OF RESEARCH
This section expresses in detail the steps that were taken to provide accurate information
for the three proposed solutions. This proposal required a large amount research to
provide the most effective and desired solutions to the problem.
One solution suggests emailing Commuter West permit holders to inform them of
parking notices. To research the practicality of this solution we surveyed four professors
at Texas Tech, who teach classes of 200 or more. We asked these professors:
1. Do you have problems getting mass emails out to all of your students?
2. If so, approximately how many of those emails come back with unknown
addresses?
We contacted The Daily Toreador to gather information on placing an advertisement in
the paper. We e-mailed Dawn Zuerker with the advertising office of The Daily Toreador
four times with no response. We decided the best way to get an estimate on how much
space would be allotted for parking alerts would be to personally call the Toreador. After
a brief phone conversation with Josh Brooks, we were informed that no Texas Tech
affiliates or departments received discounts on advertisements.2 A standard ad, oneeighth of a page, would cost $196 per day.
Our group decided the best way to attain information on having durable signs made
would be to design a sign that would be easily seen by the students. After creating three
sample sign designs, we chose the most straightforward one. Two of our group members
took the design to a local sign shop, Sign Design. This was only about a forty-five minute
consultation, but the sign consultant, Richard, provided us with several pointers. He
suggested that the most effective way to convey a parking notification would be by using
flip panels to express the date. This strategy will allow the signs to be used multiple
times.3
In order to gain insight on how other large universities informed their students of any
changes in the parking schedule, we called the parking departments of four other
universities: West Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University, Kansas State
University, and The University of Texas. We asked two questions:
1. Are student parking lots ever closed to students and reserved for some type of
University function?
2. If so, how did you inform your students of these changes?
To better understand how students felt about the communication problems with Texas
Tech Traffic and Parking we conducted a student survey. We surveyed random students
who use the Commuter West parking lots on a regular basis. We approached many
students during the day as we were walking to classes, eating in the sub, or studying in
the library. By completing the survey throughout our day, extra time was not taken out of
our schedules.
RESULTS
The following is a summary of the results from the three types of research we used for
the project.
We asked professors of large classes if they had trouble sending mass emails.
Statistically, three percent of all emails are returned as “Message Undeliverable”.4 This
solution is good in theory since so much of our society is based on web communication,
but it may end up being more of a hassle than an effective solution.
The Daily Toreador does not provide a discount on advertisements to Texas Tech
affiliated departments. The Daily Toreador charges $196 for an advertisement the size of
2
Brooks, Josh. Personal Interview. 16 Nov. 2003.
Richard. Personal Interview. 10 Nov. 2006.
4
Kloiber, Lydia; Folds, Jonathan; Adams, Gwyneth; Hendrickson, Kendra; Comiskey George. Personal
Interviews. 13-15 Nov. 2006.
3
an eighth of a page.5 We are unsure how much the Traffic and Parking department has
budgeted for notifications, but maybe a bargain could be worked out with the Daily
Toreador.
We also took a sample sign to Sign Design for an estimate. The signs are durable and
reusable. One sign is $75, but if twenty or more are bought, they are only $60 a piece.
Sign Design can make the sign to where the date can be changed so a new sign does not
have to be bought every time a lot will be closed. A rider can hook onto the sign,
enabling the signs to say any date. Riders can be purchased for $10 a piece, and each
rider will have a different number on it.6 There is an example of a sample sign along with
the price estimate from Sign Design included in the appendix to help you visualize the
sign.
Although having signs made to communicate parking notices may appear as the most
expensive solution we are proposing, in the long run it should prove most beneficial.
Unless Traffic and Parking has an effective means of reaching students via email, solving
this problem will cost some money. The signs are reusable and can be easily altered to
say any date. The Daily Toreador charges per date.7 If the sign runs for two days before
the lot is closed, it will cost nearly $400 per incidence. Therefore, we believe that this
solution is the best overall. Each of the proposed solutions has benefits and drawbacks,
but producing signs appears to have more pros than cons.
We surveyed twenty students on how they perceived communication between Texas
Tech Traffic and Parking and students. Primarily, we wanted to know how students
would prefer to be informed of a closed parking lot. The survey was also to gauge how
big of a problem the students think the communication gap is. A table of the results is
included in the appendix.
According to the survey, seventy percent of the students surveyed have encountered a
closed lot that they were not informed in advance about. Nine of the twenty students
surveyed indicated more than one preference of communication so the following
percentages will not add up to 100. Thirty- five percent of participants said they would
respond best to an advertisement in the Daily Toreador. Forty-five percent of participants
would prefer to be informed of parking changes via email. Sixty-five percent of
participants liked the idea of posting sings at the entrances and exits of the lot two days
before the lot will be closed.
CONCLUSION
5
Brooks, Josh. Personal Interview. 16 Nov. 2003.
6
Richard. Personal Interview. 10 Nov. 2006.
Brooks, Josh. Personal Interview. 16 Nov. 2003.
7
Although there is a noted gap in communication between Texas Tech Traffic and Parking
and Commuter West permit holders, there are several feasible solutions to fix the
problem. None of the solutions we have proposed are costly or difficult to attain. It is in
the best interest of the students and of the Traffic and Parking department to look into
using at least one of these methods to increase communication with students. As we said
before, we believe that an increase in communication would be beneficial to both parties.
Texas Tech Traffic and Parking has more important issues to deal with than complaining
students.
In the following appendix we have included illustrations to highlight the major concepts
of the paper. You will find maps, sample signs and price estimate, and survey results.