KU parking rates to increase, some by as much as 40 percent

New parking rates at KU

Gold: from $291 to $405

Blue: from $245 to $300

Red: from $225 to $270

Yellow: from $204 to $225

Park & Ride: from $180 to $225

Housing: from $194 to $225

Garage Gold: from $357 to $471

Garage Blue: from $312 to $367

Garage Red: from $291 to $336

Garage Yellow: from $240 to $261

Reserved: from $816 to $1,020

Retiree: from $77 to $85

Moped/Cycle: from $46 to $64

Departmental Pass: from $62 to $86

Child Care Load: from $26 to $29

Evening Only: from $41 to $44

Stouffer Place + Yellow: from $306 to $355

Event Parking: from $20 to $25

Parking rates at Kansas University are going up this fall to finance maintenance on lots around campus, KU’s parking department said.

Beginning Aug. 1, the prices for every category of parking pass will rise, with the sharpest increases for the most coveted lots.

Yellow passes will increase about 10 percent to $225, red passes will increase 20 percent to $270, and blue passes will increase more than 22 percent to $300.

The gold pass, which KU Parking and Transit director Donna Hultine said is the most in-demand and generally reserved for faculty and staff who have served for some years, will increase nearly 40 percent, to $405.

“If we’re trying to develop a market-based structure, they’re the most sought after,” Hultine said, referring to the gold passes.

The price increases, passed by the Parking Commission and approved by the provost’s office this spring, are geared toward raising revenue to maintain KU’s parking lots. The parking department has said it would need more than $15 million in improvements, based on a survey of 85 parking lots at KU.

More than $1 million in projects are scheduled for the summer, Hultine said. Those include the lots at Youngberg Hall on West Campus, which houses the KU Center for Research; the Computer Services Facility on the main campus; and the lot for the Max Kade Center for German-American Studies, near 11th and Missouri streets.

The parking department will also alter the intersection of Irving Hill and Naismith to widen the turning radius for the K-10 Connector buses, which shuttle students between Lawrence and Overland Park.

Along with the short term projects, a work group will begin meeting this summer to begin rethinking the campus parking system.

The current system sends drivers “hunting” for spaces in a wide swath of designated lots. The goal of the work group, made up of employees from around the KU campus as well as students, will be to come up with something altogether different.

“If we had to start from scratch, they will be imagining how that will look,” Hultine said.