Transportation Town Halls: Service Enhancements for 2019-20

Transportation Services will host its annual on-campus town hall meetings this week to present changes for the upcoming 2019-20 school year.

Topics will include parking permit prices, a bike share program coming to campus, additional pay-station parking areas, bus transit update and route changes, Alabama football game day information and a Fleet update.

Town Hall Meeting Schedule 

• Wednesday, June 26, at 8:30 a.m. in 337 Lloyd Hall
• Wednesday, June 26, at 10:30 a.m. in 102 Graves Hall
• Thursday, June 27, at 8:30 a.m. in G55 Rose Administration
• Thursday, June 27, at 10:30 a.m. in 3104 Ferguson Center
• Thursday, June 27, at 2:30 p.m. in 3104 Ferguson Center

Parking

“We’re not raising parking permit prices in any category next year, in case people are wondering,” said Chris D’Esposito, director of Transportation Services. “It will be the same prices as last year.”

D’Esposito said pay stations, which were well received by students last year, are being expanded.

At the Ferguson Center, Transportation Services is converting 75 parking spaces into pay station parking spaces in well-marked, designated areas. At the Campus Drive Parking Deck/bus hub, an additional 107 parking spaces will be converted into pay stations, bringing the total number of pay station spaces there to 140.

Gotcha E-Bike Rentals

Another big change Transportation Services is making for the 2019-20 academic year is providing Gotcha e-bike rental services on campus.

D’Esposito said the University already has a long-term bike rental program at the University Recreation Center called BamaBikes, but they’re bringing Gotcha bike services to make getting around campus more convenient for students.

“It’ll be 300 e-bikes with electric pedal assists,” he said. “Students can register with the service by downloading the Gotcha app on their phones and rent the bikes by the minute.

“Instead of having to go to the Rec Center, the bikes will be at our 500 existing bike racks spread across campus. Students can just look at the app and see a digital map of how many bikes are available in their area, put in the QR code and the bike will unlock. Bikes can be returned to any on-campus bike rack.”

Gotcha e-bike rentals cost a flat rate of $2 plus 10 cents per minute. Or, students can select a membership fee of $6.99 monthly, which includes one hour of bike use a day. After that hour, cost is 10 cents a minute.