<p>i haven't seen another thread about UCF's parking situation, so, for you current students, how is it? i've heard SO many horror stories about circling and tickets and being late to class and so on. can you guys tell me first hand what it's like? does anyone park at a nearby apartment complex and take the shuttle to campus? i start this fall and some insight and advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Parking can be bad, especially if you show up in the middle of the day.</p>
<p>The good news is that they are almost finished with another 4 story parking garage, so it should help with the problem.</p>
<p>The absolute worst week for parking is the first week of class in the Fall. After that people stop showing up for classes, drop classes, or only show up for tests, etc.</p>
<p>In the spring the parking situation hasn’t been as bad. I think that’s because more people graduate in December than transfer into UCF in January. I haven’t had any issues finding spots this semester.</p>
<p>If you ever take summer classes the parking is very abundant.</p>
<p>FWIW, most colleges have in big cities have parking issues. It’s nothing exclusive to UCF. I actually think UCF does a great job by building very nice parking garages to help the parking issues.</p>
<p>^ OminusRun pretty much sums it up. Parking can be a nightmare in the middle of the day, especially around 11am-2pm. If you show up at around 1pm, it’s basically a game of circling the garage until you find some poor young lady whom you can creepily follow as she walks to her car. You can easily circle for 30 minutes.</p>
<p>Luckily, I can take the bus from where I live and it’s great, definitely faster in the mid-day and gives me time to read or do hw or just chill and listen to music. If I have to get to campus anywhere between 11am and 2pm, I take the bus.</p>
<p>As the above poster said, parking can be a nightmare. I live on campus so I don’t even get the worst of it. But I know better now than to move my car or leave campus and try to get back on between the hours of 12-4!! You literally won’t find a spot! But besides that, its about what you can expect from any big school.</p>
<p>Ok, thank you all for your input. Do any of you know of anyone thatcleaves their car at a nearby apartment complex and takes the shuttle to campus? Are there any complexes that you know of that are strict on parking and wouldn’t allow that?</p>
<p>Oh and that new garage is almost done??</p>
<p>There are some who park at a nearby complex just to take the shuttle; I think it’s funny, but whatever. There’s also some spots about a mile away from the heart of campus but still on land owned by UCF that have a park-and-ride bus system. Honestly, it’s not THAT bad. It’s bad, but typically only in the closer garages - otherwise, not too shabby. (And OH MY STARS it’s terrible during Add/Drop week. That much is true.)</p>
<p>lol i wouldn’t be parking at a complex JUST so i could take the shuttle; i’m just thinking it may be a bit faster than endlessly circling to find parking on campus. has anyone tried the “park and ride” i just read about here: [University</a> of Central Florida Parking and Transportation Services](<a href=“http://parking.ucf.edu/pnr.html]University”>http://parking.ucf.edu/pnr.html)</p>
<p>that seems like it could be a solution…</p>
<p>Parking can really suck at times but if you drive to campus. just drive a little bit earlier incase you can’t find a spot for like 20 minutes</p>
<p>DO NOT wait till the last minute to buy a decal. If you think you can slip by a week without a decal, you are wrong. These people give parking tickets like it’s free candy. I’m one of those huge procrastinators and so even when I purchased my decal, I was too lazy to put it up on my car till a few days later. I was too lazy to do anything about my expired license plate, and they caught me. All in all, I can tell you, I received 6 parking tickets already (1 over the summer, and 5 this Spring term.) 2 in which I successfully appealed, and one that is still pending on the decision of an appeal. If something is unjustified, go appeal the ticket. It doesn’t hurt. </p>
<p>As far as parking, don’t try to find a parking spot in the garage in the middle of the day. Honestly, if I was living off campus, I’d just go to the student’s housing area and use their parking lot. There’s always plenty of spaces in Nike’s parking lot during the day. If not, use Hercules parking lot. They have plenty of spaces.</p>
<p>And oh, if you don’t have a decal or something and want to avoid getting a ticket till you fix the situation, it’s better to park in Nike or Hercules. They check less. At least that’s what I think.</p>