Parking at AUBG: Mission (Im)possible?

As AUBG welcomed its largest class in the Fall 2023 semester, many students faced problems with parking around the Skaptopara 3 Residence Hall and the ABF building.

 “The essence of the problem, in my opinion, boils down to the fact that this academic year, a significantly larger number of students were admitted than the university facilities, both for parking and dormitories, can accommodate,” Nikol Trifonova, a fourth-year student, said.

According to Aleksandra Angelova, a second-year student, this term she was not allowed to pay for access because, a certain number of cars were allowed access on a first-come, first-served basis. That led people to park wherever and block other cars.

“This year, the capacity of the parking is 100 lots – 70 for students and 30 for faculty and staff. On Sept. 8, parking lots were already fully booked,” Atanas Urdev, Manager of Security at AUBG, said. This led to 24 people being placed on the so-called “waiting lists.”

“In short, on the first day of classes, I went to pay my semester parking fee and was informed that there were no more available parking spots. I ended up being 16th on the list,” Nikol said. Urdev added that the situation is under investigation and nine of these 24 students are not on the waiting lists anymore.

Regardless of the waiting lists, students still see vacant spots, despite the administration’s claims that they are already booked.

“As of today, I still do not have access to the university parking lots. I live far from the campus, and I have to use my car every day,” Nikol said.

“What frustrates me is that I always see free spots in the paid parking lots that are needed and cannot be used because of the new rule which does not allow more people in,” Aleksandra said.

According to Urdev, although sometimes there are vacant spots, this does not mean that they are not being utilized in general. The reason for this misunderstanding is that in reality, the parking lots are fully booked, yet not all of the cars that have access are parked there all the time. Apart from the nine people who are not on the waiting lists anymore, no more people are let in, because of the 100-lots capacity of the parking.

Students say that they should seek alternatives in terms of parking near the university.

“I often find my car blocked, so I am forced to think of ways to go wherever I am supposed to without my car. It defeats the whole purpose of parking here if I have to walk to my destination regardless,” Aleksandra said.

Nikol said that she has to park in the Kaufland parking lot, where her car has suffered damages due to the constant flow of cars. She also added that the parking problem at the university was not a recent one, and it was high time to take action.

Urdev thanks students for their patience and understanding and appeals that they provide solutions to the parking problem within its capacity. Some students shared their opinions on potential actions that could be taken to address the problem: “I believe that to allocate parking spaces fairly, a ‘Priority System’ should be established. This system should give priority to students who have difficult access to the university, live in remote neighborhoods, or have mobility challenges,” Nikol said.

Aleksandra suggested that the green field in front of Skaptopara 1 Residence Hall was turned into a small parking lot.

AUBG is seeking options to expand the parking areas, and one possible solution was to buy out the grass area in front of Skaptopara 1 Residence Hall, but as it is currently private property, it turned out to be rather expensive. Urdev also shared that there have been ideas about turning the parking area at ABF into a two-storey parking lot. However, it turns out that this option will not solve the parking problem as it would be very expensive and won’t provide more than around 30 extra spots.

“AUBG wants to be in favor of the students, because they are the driving force behind it, and therefore, it seeks ways of finding solutions to the problem,” Urdev said.