The University’s Coral Gables campus is going through a period of transition with a number of new and exciting additions that are impacting parking and shuttles. Below is a brief summary of some of the changes taking place for the fall semester:

Ponce de Leon and Merrick Garages

With the start of the fall 2016 semester, the Ponce De Leon garage (formally part of the green discount zone) will not be part of the Coral Gables general parking inventory. To facilitate this change, a new parking garage is currently under construction: the Merrick Garage. The Merrick Garage will have a new color zone known as the “Brown Zone” (see map).

Important Note: The Merrick garage will not be ready at the start of the fall semester. Therefore, anyone purchasing a “brown” permit will be asked to temporarily park in the Ponce De Leon garage until the Merrick Garage opens. It is anticipated that the garage will be ready sometime during the fall semester, and Parking and Transportation will provide regular updates to brown permit holders. Please keep this in mind when selecting your permit during the permit sales period.

Shuttle Routes

The Fountain route (orange route) will have two changes. At the north end of the route, the service will now terminate at Miller Circle instead of Fountain. By utilizing the traffic circle at the Miller Road and San Amaro Drive intersection, the shuttle will be able to make much more efficient ingress and egress to the campus. At the south end of the route, the service will terminate at Brescia Avenue instead of the Ponce de Leon Garage. By eliminating the Ponce and Fountain stops riders will experience a significant reduction in transit time and much more efficient service. Shuttles to the Ponce De Leon garage (Flipse Building) will continue to be served by the Stanford route (green route), which will remain unchanged.

Discount Parking Policy

The employee discount program has been modified from a “geographic-based” to a “needs-based” program. This means that there will not be a dedicated discount zone; instead a discount of 50 percent of the regular permit price will be offered to any employee earning $35,000 or less, irrespective of which color zone is selected. Please note the following:

• Currently, there are approximately 408 employees that utilize the green discount zone. The new discount policy will allow for approximately 940 employees to receive the discount.
• Any employee who had a green discount permit as of April 1, 2016, will be eligible for the discount for the upcoming year (August 16, 2016 through August 15, 2017) irrespective of their annual salary. This is a one-year exception to aid the transition process.
• As in previous years, discounts cannot be combined. For example, an employee earning less than $35,000 and also driving a hybrid vehicle cannot combine both discounts.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact Parking and Transportation at 305-284-3096, option 2, or [email protected].