Lot 11 is one commuter-only lot where overnight parking is no longer permitted. The Department of Transportation Services announced a plan to enforce overnight parking restrictions, inhibiting people from parking in commuter lots between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

The Department of Transportation Services announced this summer that it would enforce overnight parking restrictions to discourage residents from parking in commuter lots.

Since the beginning of the semester, however, these newly enforced restrictions have angered residents and commuters alike.

Parking is not permitted in commuter lots between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., and while these restrictions have been in place for many years, they haven’t been enforced, according to an email DOTS Director David Allen sent to all commuters.

DOTS decided to enforce the rule now because it recently converted Lot 11 to a commuter-only lot, Allen wrote in the email.

“In the past, we assigned [University] View and Varsity spaces in Lot 11 as residents, so it wasn’t a problem before. It was part of our normal operating process,” Allen said in a telephone interview.

Last year, second-year health services administration graduate student Amanda Hemmer parked in Lot 11 with a resident permit and was free to leave her car there overnight. After learning that these overnight parking restrictions would be enforced, she opted to park in a privately owned garage, and now she pays twice what she used to.

“The alternatives that were suggested were by no means comparable to my previous parking situation,” Hemmer said.

Commuters wishing to park overnight can move their car to designated overnight lots where parking is allowed from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m., then move their cars back to their original lots before 7 a.m. to avoid receiving a penalty. 

Hemmer said she would not feel comfortable parking her car in a distant lot at night. The lonely walk back to her apartment would make her a target, she said, especially if she were carrying luggage, as when she returns from weekend trips home.

“You don’t have your hands free,” Hemmer said. “You look like you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s just totally unsafe to have to walk across campus like that.”

In his email, Allen wrote that DOTS does not expect commuters to park overnight regularly.

“If you ask 100 commuters, ‘How many of you are on campus at 3 o’clock in the morning over a semester period?’ I don’t believe that many would raise their hand,” Allen said.

Junior psychology major Katie Lacy said that she would be one of them.

“I actually stay on campus a lot, whether I’m at the library or I’m staying over at a friend’s or at my boyfriend’s, I’m always here because I try to study late,” Lacy said.

To give commuters more time to study and prepare, DOTS will not be enforcing the overnight parking restriction the week before final exams, according to the email. Allen also said DOTS will be more lenient during midterms.

But otherwise, commuters will need to abide by the restrictions, or else get ticketed. 

“Everybody has exams and papers throughout the semester so I feel like there’s lots of other times when it’s an inconvenience,” Lacy said. 

Barzillai Kim, a sophomore enrolled in letters and sciences, said he feels this restriction is an added inconvenience to commuting students.

“It’s already more of a burden for commuters to do things on campus, so if it’s already hard enough for us so why make things harder?” Kim said.

While many commuters have aired concerns — a Change.org petition has even been started in response to the restrictions — Allen said none of these concerns have been brought to the department.

“No one has come to us with that, and I would appreciate if they would come and talk to us,” Allen said. “I think that we could have a good conversation.”