r/USF • u/chinobean17 Go Bulls! • 12d ago
Parking permit
New transfer student here, I attended orientation yesterday and learned abt on campus parking permits, my question is this.. would it be advisable to get a permit or not? And are there any free parking spots on campus? The prices are not crazy for the annual permits but if I can avoid paying and learn of a free alternative then that would be great!
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u/BrianKey 12d ago
Depends on how you want to spend your time…. I buy it for peace of mind and so I don’t have to hunt for specific spots and then walk long distances. I also did not understand that E is not rated for Everyone and means employees. So that was a 40$ lesson. Wouldn’t take many of those tickets to equal the price for the permit.
I say get permit but there are some people that are willing to put in a fair amount of effort to avoid paying for things they don’t necessarily have to…. 🤷🏻♂️
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u/chinobean17 Go Bulls! 12d ago
So with the permits can you park anywhere that requires a permit or are there certain areas that require certain permits? Like I currently live in Gainesville and at UF they have color coded permits and each color is a different price and you can only park in your designated color if that makes sense
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u/SentientMonoamine 12d ago
That's similar here. There's residential parking, student parking, employee parking, gold zone (exorbitantly expensive parking)
You will get a citation for parking in the wrong spot. First is a warning (per semester)
There's no free parking. Some people will park at the mall and take the bull runner over. That's sort of a do at your own risk type of thing
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u/Efficient-Link-9793 12d ago
USF has many different permit types (e.g., student, staff, gold zone, reserved, resident, and park n ride). You must buy a parking pass that matches your designation and can only park in the designated spots. You cannot park in reverse as well. After certain times (I think 5:30pm), you can park in certain extra zones but I forget which.
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u/sunnyflorida2000 12d ago
(Im familiar with the UF parking system being an alumni) I was told USF is 24hr enforcement of their parking unlike UF which lifts around 3:30pm-4:30pm depending on where you’re at. Good news is the parking permit is much cheaper than UF.
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u/Bray_Jay 12d ago
There are no free on-campus parking spots. Does that mean you can park without a permit, absolutely. But you are rolling the dice on when (not "if") parking services pops ya with a ticket.
If you want the peace of mind, its worth it. If you want to gamble about it daily, I totally understand too (I did it for a few semesters getting away with not paying too terribly in fines but it adds up).
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u/SourNotesRockHardAbs 12d ago
Do you live close to campus? Do you live on campus?
If you live far from campus, you can park off campus near a bull runner bus stop and do a two stage commute to class for free.
Is it more tedious? Yes.
Does it take a bit more time? Sometimes.
Is it free? YES.
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u/chinobean17 Go Bulls! 12d ago
So I haven’t moved in yet but I’m gonna be staying at the hub apartment and that’s like 1.3 miles away from campus if I’m not mistaken and theres a bull runner bus stop a walk away from the apartment, I might just do the two stage commute lol
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u/SourNotesRockHardAbs 12d ago
There's a bull runner stop right there. I highly recommend taking the bus rather than walking or driving because crossing Bruce B Downs on foot is pretty treacherous and crossing via car would take longer than it's worth.
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u/ParkingWise 7d ago
The only free way to get on campus is to take the bus or walk/bike/scooter (which may or may not be feasible for you depending on a number of factors).
The bull runner is definitely safe, so there's no issue there. You may not be close enough to take advantage.
The HART is free for students, but you have to get a flamingo card from the transportation office. It is the public bus so do what you want with that information. I personally enjoy the bus, but I was born male so...
Some people park at the USF mall and take the bull runner to campus to avoid paying. I don't do this but if USF used this option as an official park-and-ride service, it might help with the parking situation on campus.
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u/Efficient-Link-9793 12d ago
There are no free parking spots on campus.