4. Student Perceptions of Parking
The perception of affordable and convenient parking plays a decided role in the selection of passenger travel mode. Of the students who responded to the survey, more than 60 percent of the students indicated that they had parking permits (Figure 16). The campus with the highest percentage of permit holders reporting was Concordia at 69 percent, followed by MSUM with 62 percent. Sixty percent of NDSU respondents had parking permits.
Figure 16. Students with Parking Permits (n=1,380)
4.1 Parking Convenience
There was no consensus in regard to the convenience of parking across the three institutions. The data presented in Figure 17 is relatively deceiving as it masks the relative satisfaction of Concordia students, 41 percent of whom rated the convenience of parking as good or very good, and dissatisfaction of MSUM students, only 15 percent who felt the same way. North Dakota State students, on average, seemed satisfied with 30 percent thinking that parking was good or very good and 30 percent thinking it was poor or very poor.
Figure 17. Student Perception of Parking Convenience (n=1,380)
4.2 Parking Affordability
The same phenomenon present when measuring parking convenience was found when looking at affordability as shown in Figure 18. Ninety percent of Concordia students felt that parking affordability was good or very good. At the same time just more than half of the MSUM students participating in the survey thought affordability was poor or very poor. NDSU students were split with approximately one-third thinking affordability was good, fair, or poor.
Figure 18. Student Perception of Parking Affordability (n=1,380)
4.3 On Street Parking
Thirty-one percent of parking permit holders regularly found themselves parking on the street. However, this measure too was unequal among the student bodies. Just fewer than 60 percent of Concordia students with permits had found themselves parking on the street. Only 31 percent of MSUM students and 10 percent of NDSU students did so.
4.4 MAT Service to Off-campus Parking Lot
Approximately 37 percent of respondents stated that they would make use of MAT if it were adjacent to an off-campus parking lot serviced every 15 minutes. Only 6 percent would consider using such a service if the bus left the lot every half hour.
Forty-seven percent of NDSU students indicated that they would be interested in a parking lot circulator providing service every 15 minutes as opposed to 26 percent of MSUM students and 16 percent of Concordia College students.