A new initiative to open up parking at the University Recreation Center has its first quantifiable data to illustrate its effectiveness, according to University officials.

“This is doing nothing but helping us,” said George Brown, director of the Student Recreation Center.

His own reports, he said, point to a “5 to 8 percent increase” in traffic to and from the building.

“All of the promotion took place in January, and it seemed like a fairly immediate — but not overnight — increase,” he said.

Brown said since the semester started, he has physically counted cars in the lot three times to gather his information.

Brown credits University promotion for the increase in traffic, as well as publicity and word-of-mouth.

“People heard there was an easing of the restrictions here, and our counts during the day improved, in the mid- to late-afternoon,” he said. “We’re for anything that promotes the use [of the Recreation Center],” Brown said.

Prior to this development, students with only a residential parking permit could not park in the upper or South parking lot at the Rec Center before 6 p.m. The penalty, as some students discovered and rediscovered repeatedly, was a parking ticket.

“I got five last semester,” said Mark Drew, a freshman majoring in business, referring to the tickets he received for parking in the upper lot before 6 p.m. last semester. “The first was $25, the next was $50, so it was upwards of $200.”

Other students agreed with Drew on the benefits of opening up parking during the day.

“I come here every day,” said Morgan Nelson, a sophomore majoring in interior design.

When it comes to traffic in the parking lot, Nelson said she sees “a little bit more of an increase now. I changed the time I come from last semester to the middle of the day.”

Rec Center employees said they have also noticed the same results as Brown.

“Since the changes, I’d say, sure. As far as the parking lot goes, it’s always packed. It’s always slammed constantly now,” said Jason Atencio, a Rec Center employee who is majoring in civil engineering.

Fellow employee and graduate student Clark Hughes agreed.

“Compared to last semester, I’d say there’s a big increase. I couldn’t give you numbers, but I’ve noticed the parking lot is really full a lot longer during the day this semester—between 3 [p.m.] and 8 [p.m.],” Hughes said.

The changes came about as a result of SGA research and proposals.

“Our role in this was pretty simple,” Brown said, noting that the initiative sums up “about two years of work — research — on how much is going on in the building.”

“Their intention was to try to open up more parking and ease restrictions. We worked with SGA for data, and it became pretty clear that we had more capacity in the parking lot. SGA made a series of presentations on this…and got the blessing to approve this from the traffic committee on campus,” Brown said.

Brown said he approved the way the situation was handled on all sides and parties.

“The SGA efforts were done right,” he said. “They did their research, built consensus, and proved that a student voice is heard on campus.”

He said the SGA officials showed him the data where they had counted cars and that the lots weren’t full. After seeing a drop in residence hall students visiting the Rec, he said they wanted to see as many students as possible.

Ultimately, Brown said, anything that reduces barriers is a good thing.

“We’re a very popular destination on campus right now,” he said.