Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1
1)
The opportunity I have chosen to pursue is that parking on the University of Florida campus is very inefficient for students. It is hard for students who live on campus to find spots in the lots that are closest to their housing. The lots are small and there is no way to tell whether a lot is full or not unless you go directly to the lot. Off campus students also have no way to tell whether lots are full or not.
2)
a. The who: Students who live and park on campus and students who commute and park on campus
b. The what: They are unable to efficiently find parking.
c. The why: The lots are too small and there is no system for students to identify whether a lot is full or not except by driving to the lot.
3)
a. Testing the who: There are other campuses that have this need besides the University of Florida. I think some on campus students don’t really have this problem if they live in areas with lots of student parking near them. Some examples of areas with a lot of parking are Fraternity Row and the Lakeside area.
b. Testing the what: Like I said above, not all on campus students have problems with lots because some on campus students live near areas that have a large amount of student parking. Not all the lots get full on campus daily.
c. Testing the why: For the most part students that live and park on campus and commute to campus have the same problems with parking. There just aren’t enough spots to go around. It is hard for students to know whether spots will be available without going to campus to see.
4) Interviews:
a. Ian (Lives on campus)
i. Summary: In talking with Ian he confirmed the problem of not being able to find a spot close to his fraternity house. He said that lots of times when he comes home from TA meetings at night that it is hard to find spots in the lot closest to his house. He said that a lot of times he has to resort to parking on the fraternity row lot which is not the closest to his house and requires a bit of a walk.
b. Taylor (Lives on campus)
i. Summary: In talking with Taylor he said that he struggles with finding parking around his fraternity house sometimes. He says that usually during the day it is easy to find parking in the lot closest to his house but that around dinner time and then after 9 pm it is difficult to get a spot in the lot directly behind Flavet Field. He said that it seems like lots of times around dinner time the spots are all taken by people playing sports on Flavet Field because decal restrictions are lifted for the lot by the field.
c. Bradley (Lives on campus)
i. Summary: In talking with Bradley he said that he doesn’t usually struggle with parking on campus, but he also chooses when to move his car wisely. He told me that he usually tries to park on the end of Fraternity Row nearest to Museum Rd. He told me that he usually only tries to move his car in the middle of the day because then he is almost guaranteed to get a spot in the area that he wants. He also told me that another problem he has had before is people double parking on Fraternity row. He said the spots are a little small if you have a big car and often times people will park over the line taking up two spots.
d. Monika (commutes to campus)
i. Summary: Monika told me that she does sometimes have problems commuting and parking on campus but that usually she doesn’t have a problem with the park and ride parking garages being too full. She said that she doesn’t like how far the park and ride garages are from the central core of campus and told me that it takes a long time to commute and ride the bus to finally get to class.
e. Carson (commutes to campus)
i. Summary: Carson told me about the same thing as Monika. He doesn’t like how far the garages are from campus. He told me that sometimes the buses don’t run as frequently as he would like from the park and ride garages. He also said that he normally doesn’t have a problem with the garage filling up unless it is finals week. He said that the garages get pretty busy during finals because lots of students are probably coming on campus to study.
5)
The opportunity I have chosen to pursue is that parking on the University of Florida campus is very inefficient for students. It is hard for students who live on campus to find spots in the lots that are closest to their housing. The lots are small and there is no way to tell whether a lot is full or not unless you go directly to the lot. Off campus students also have no way to tell whether lots are full or not.
2)
a. The who: Students who live and park on campus and students who commute and park on campus
b. The what: They are unable to efficiently find parking.
c. The why: The lots are too small and there is no system for students to identify whether a lot is full or not except by driving to the lot.
3)
a. Testing the who: There are other campuses that have this need besides the University of Florida. I think some on campus students don’t really have this problem if they live in areas with lots of student parking near them. Some examples of areas with a lot of parking are Fraternity Row and the Lakeside area.
b. Testing the what: Like I said above, not all on campus students have problems with lots because some on campus students live near areas that have a large amount of student parking. Not all the lots get full on campus daily.
c. Testing the why: For the most part students that live and park on campus and commute to campus have the same problems with parking. There just aren’t enough spots to go around. It is hard for students to know whether spots will be available without going to campus to see.
4) Interviews:
a. Ian (Lives on campus)
i. Summary: In talking with Ian he confirmed the problem of not being able to find a spot close to his fraternity house. He said that lots of times when he comes home from TA meetings at night that it is hard to find spots in the lot closest to his house. He said that a lot of times he has to resort to parking on the fraternity row lot which is not the closest to his house and requires a bit of a walk.
b. Taylor (Lives on campus)
i. Summary: In talking with Taylor he said that he struggles with finding parking around his fraternity house sometimes. He says that usually during the day it is easy to find parking in the lot closest to his house but that around dinner time and then after 9 pm it is difficult to get a spot in the lot directly behind Flavet Field. He said that it seems like lots of times around dinner time the spots are all taken by people playing sports on Flavet Field because decal restrictions are lifted for the lot by the field.
c. Bradley (Lives on campus)
i. Summary: In talking with Bradley he said that he doesn’t usually struggle with parking on campus, but he also chooses when to move his car wisely. He told me that he usually tries to park on the end of Fraternity Row nearest to Museum Rd. He told me that he usually only tries to move his car in the middle of the day because then he is almost guaranteed to get a spot in the area that he wants. He also told me that another problem he has had before is people double parking on Fraternity row. He said the spots are a little small if you have a big car and often times people will park over the line taking up two spots.
d. Monika (commutes to campus)
i. Summary: Monika told me that she does sometimes have problems commuting and parking on campus but that usually she doesn’t have a problem with the park and ride parking garages being too full. She said that she doesn’t like how far the park and ride garages are from the central core of campus and told me that it takes a long time to commute and ride the bus to finally get to class.
e. Carson (commutes to campus)
i. Summary: Carson told me about the same thing as Monika. He doesn’t like how far the garages are from campus. He told me that sometimes the buses don’t run as frequently as he would like from the park and ride garages. He also said that he normally doesn’t have a problem with the garage filling up unless it is finals week. He said that the garages get pretty busy during finals because lots of students are probably coming on campus to study.
5)
One thing that I didn’t know about my opportunity before starting this is that it seems on campus students have more of a problem with finding parking close to where they live. However, off campus students are less concerned about getting a spot (spots are plentiful most of the time) and more concerned about how far the lots are from the central core of campus.
William,
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, to you my opportunity dealt with solving a problem here at UF. I'm currently in my first year and already I can see the need for more parking available to students. Like you mentioned in your post areas like Lakeside have lots of parking, but other more concentrated areas are in need for more parking. Pursuing this problem would be a great service to all students at UF. Great post.