Jon Studtmann is well aware of the parking woes on the Kansas University campus.

He sometimes drives to campus an hour before class to get a close parking spot. And he rarely sees friendly faces as he drives from lot to lot.

“Finding a parking space at KU really brings out the ugly in people,” said Studtmann, a senior from Lawrence.

A new study commissioned by the KU parking department shows the university oversells permits for its parking lots at a higher rate than other universities. And fixing the problem likely will require increases in permit fees — and may involve a new bus system for shuttling people around campus.

“It’s sort of a hunting license,” parking director Donna Hultine said of the current situation. “People go to one lot, can’t find a space, so they go to another lot. People are just driving around, looking for a space.”

The new report, which cost $100,000 and was completed by Chance Management Advisors in Philadelphia, says KU has sold about 55 percent more parking permits than it has parking spaces. The average oversell at other universities is about 40 percent, the report’s authors wrote.

“Every category is oversold,” Hultine said. “Yet in some weird way it sort of works. We can accommodate people.”

Hultine said the department’s goal was to get more people participating in the park-and-ride program, in which they park on west campus and ride a KU on Wheels bus to the main campus.

Currently, participants park in the Lied Center lot, but park-and-ride’s success — there are about 800 participants — and an expansion project slated at the Lied Center mean building a new lot on west campus will be necessary, said Tom Mulinazzi, the engineering professor who leads the Parking Commission.

Kansas University students walk to their cars Tuesday in the parking lot adjacent to the Burge Union. KU is proposing an increase in parking fees to pay for improvements.

Eventually, a shuttle system could be developed to encourage even more people to park and ride.

“There’s going to be a lot of expansion on west campus,” Mulinazzi said. “We need to decide where best to put a new lot. We won’t have any recommendations for at least a year.”

Until then, Hultine said, a fee increase likely will go into place this fall to pay for resurfacing of current lots. A student permit costs $75 per year, which is cheaper than all other Big 12 schools except Oklahoma State and Kansas State. Faculty and staff permits cost $135, seventh in the Big 12.

Hear a presentation on the Kansas University parking situation and tell the Parking Commission what you think during a public forum at 1:15 p.m. today in Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. KU.edu: KU Parking Commission

The Parking Commission will make a fee recommendation to the provost’s office by April 1.

— KU student Matt Rodriguez contributed information to this report.