Students already pay $400/semester for parking, yet the lots are consistently oversold and full. If you call the office, they tell you there's nothing they can do but they still consistently ticket you if you aren't in a spot or a different parking garage. There is no alternative options or solutions. The office workers' entire job is to help yet they are unhelpful and not caring towards students. All they do is try to rinse all the money they can out of them. If their system flawed, why are students inconvenienced and still paying $400 a semester when none of it is their issue? Fix the issues at hand instead of ticketing students. read more

Horrible and horrendous, I wish I could give this 'service' 0 stars if I could. PTS would ding you for every nickle and dime they can, on top of students paying an awful lot of tuition money and an $800 parking pass. They treat their customers like trash and would give you a fine every time they could. I took MARTA because of this to avoid these headaches. Parking services weren't good either, and I called them many times, and they ended up redirecting me to an entirely different department to dodge their commitment and their work. Once I tried to inquire about the school's $50/month discount benefit on the monthly MARTA Breeze passes and got automatically labeled as Customer Service redirected to an entirely different service center who has 0 clue about what my situation is, and then asked me to call PTS again. I did that and again got re-directed to the same ignorant customer service center. read more

Nobody likes parking enforcement. The Georgia Tech Parking Office is probably one of the most hated entities on campus and they rake in boatloads of money. Last I checked, an annual parking permit cost $690. Like PARKatlanta, Georgia Tech Parking officers are good at their job. You don't want to test these guys because they will find and ticket your car, no matter what the circumstances. Over my lifetime, I estimate I've received two, maybe three, parking tickets. The first ticketing occurred, years ago, when I parallel parked on Bobby Dodd Way, in between the East Campus dorms of Hopkins, Glenn, and Towers. I had left my car for no more than 10 minutes and when I returned, a Tech parking officer was writing me a ticket. I talked to him, but he ignored me. He had a terrible attitude, but I can't blame him given his job. Most recently, within the past year, I was ticketed by the parking office for parking without a permit in zone W21. I parked in the huge parking lot in the center of campus, the one that is bordered by Howey Physics, MRDC, Mason, Boggs, Bunger-Henry, and the Ferst Center. I parked in this lot in between semesters, when all of the students were off-campus, and after 9pm at night. The lot was close to empty. Regardless, I still got ticketed. I wasn't happy about receiving this ticket because I didn't think permits were required and enforced in this lot after hours. I've parked in this lot plenty of times over many years, on weekends and after hours, and never received a ticket. This leads me to believe the parking office didn't start enforcing this lot 24/7 until recently. To make matters more confusing, this lot is gated and the entrance/exit has parking arms. After a certain time, the arms automatically go up and stay in the up position until the next day. This sort of invites cars to come in. Also, this is not a parking lot for one of the residence halls. I understand those spaces can be more valuable, especially at night. The parking ticket was $50. According to the parking office's web site, I had 10 days to appeal. I appealed and explained some of what I mentioned above. Over one month later, I received an email from the parking office, letting me know my fine was reduced to $15, equal to a day pass to campus. I paid the ticket online. The parking office should do a better job with clear signage of where one can and cannot park. If they are going to enforce a parking lot or parking deck 24/7, then the parking arms should stay down 24/7. The arms should not open up after hours and mislead people into thinking they can park there. It's almost like a trap. Also, the parking office needs to do a better job of updating their web site, especially with current game day parking information. For example, during the latest Georgia Tech men's basketball season, their web site showed parking information for a game that happened three months ago. They need to keep the web site up-to-date with parking information for the latest games. In the end, I am giving the Georgia Tech Parking Office two stars instead of one because I love the school and having to deal with the parking office is one of the many hardships you have to endure to make it out alive. It's all part of getting shafted. read more

Through the five years I spent at Tech, I pretty much became a master of dodging their parking crew. Not at a cheap price though. Their parking passes are issued via some kind of arbitrary lottery system, with some preference offered to those of higher class. I never remembered to register for the passes, and probably wouldn't have even if I did remember: they're pretty pricey. Instead I took to loping through the zones and trying to dodge as many tickets as I could. These guys will ticket anyone, for any short amount of time, but I began to learn their patterns. By the end of 4 years, I'd accrued $1200 in fines. Finally they booted me. I went to the office. I talked to a guy and told him that I refused to pay that much due to the fact that they'd done so little to enforce it. That they'd just let the tickets pile up higher and higher. I talked him down to $400. I paid $400 to park at Ga Tech for 4 years. During my last year at the school I snuck a little better. I still didn't get a pass. I parked at the metered spaces by the library. These are by far the best spaces on campus, and basically cost you a dollar an hour. If you plan to park overnight here, do it carefully. They will ticket you. If you don't plan on coming back, you can toss it. Otherwise watch out for the boot! read more

Don't mess with Georgia Tech Parking! They will never ever listen or understand your excuses. Everyone who works here is mean and cruel and downright rude. They will make even the toughest people cry. Imagine the following scenario based on a true story. You just finished your thermodynamics exam, which you probably failed after spending all night studying for in the library, only to find that your car has been ticketed because apparently even during finals week, the library parking lot is reserved for permit holders only starting at 8am!!! But of course you don't have time to deal with it because you have another exam in 3 hours. When you come back from that one, you not only find another ticket on your car, but a boot behind the back tire as well. And people wonder why Tech students are so unhappy. read more

Georgia Tech Parking and Transportation - Public Transportation Near Me - Atlanta, Georgia

I am so happy I can actually review Georgia Tech Parking. One of the most incompetent entities ever to exist. Now whenever you have government workers in charge of something it is going to be inefficient and borderline useless but this place is a special kind of stupid. When I first started at Tech, flat panel monitors were quite rare and expensive. When I entered the parking office each desk had a 17" LCD flat panel display. I was shocked that they would be spending that kind of money here and not at our library or student work centers. I soon learned why. The parking fines are extremely ridiculous and even legally parking on campus is extremely expensive. $500 a year and increasing! One parking ticket is $40 and you get a special "discount" of a $20 fine if you park in the wrong space and have a parking pass for somewhere else. They are much more anal about booting cars if you have a few unpaid tickets now as well. The staff is extremely unhelpful and incompetent as well. They seem more interested in their hair and nails than their customers. But again, typical government employees. One time I received an email that I had an unpaid ticket. When I went there to find out the details they gave me the print out of the car in question. Not only had I never owned that car, the license plate they had down was over 8 characters which is not possible in Georgia. It took me over 30 minutes to explain this to the "second tier" parking officer before they took it off my account. Do your best to never ever deal with these people. If you ever have one of their special yellow envelopes on your car, it only contains pain. read more

So there was recently one particular even that has made me change my mind about parking. The enforcers are all the same, and I see no reason to dwell on that, but I just wanted to add that SOME people at the actual parking office can be very nice! (surprisingly). So over the summer I was studying abroad, and had no place to put my car. And I noticed that my parking permit would expire at the end of July, but I would get back a week after, on the 8th of August. So to try to deal with this, I emailed the parking office and I ended up talking to Cheryl Smith (from customer service I believe). She has been the only person I've met from parking who has been incredibly nice and helpful and understanding, as she basically allowed me to park over the summer and not get towed, and also let me pick another lot since the lots at North Ave (where my original permit was) were going to be cleaned. Even right before I left, I got a wrongfully written ticket and she helped me get it repealed. So yes, I'm giving GT parking a bit more because of the existence of people like her. Hopefully the staff around her learns a bit. read more

Very difficult to get my calls returned. I've left multiple messages for different people with no response. I've been double charged for my permit and would just like someone to review the charges and get back to me. It's almost as fun as the DMV. read more

I'm painfully mobility-impaired and only able to walk short distances with the aid of a walker, although I am able to drive my own car. GA Tech hosts a lot of public lectures and events that are open to the public, but makes no effort to accommodate the parking needs of permanently handicapped people like me who are trying to live independent lives and who are interested in attending their events. Several years ago, I was ticketed for parking in a space on 4th street that had no visible "permit parking only" signs anywhere in the vicinity. After challenging the high fine on the ticket, it was reduced a little, but still quite a stiff fine. Since then, I have had to pass by many public events because I haven't been able to figure out where I might park within a reasonable distance of the building where it's taking place without incurring a stiff fine. Most of the handicapped spaces located throughout campus are designated "GA Tech permit only" in addition to requiring a state issued handicapped decal or license plate. They also have a trolley transportation system, but with a walker and severe joint pain and dysfunction, I would not be able to get on or off the trolley. A couple of weeks ago, I called the transportation office on campus and was answered rudely and not given any helpful suggestions whatsoever. I was given another number to call for the transportation supervisor, where I left a message and never received a call back. I have no idea what to do about this awful situation except to ask my friends to transport me and drop me off when there's a lecture I don't want to miss, but doing so becomes a major inconvenience for them as well as causing a lot of pain and stress for me since most people's cars are not comfortable for me to ride in with my disabilities. I would have thought that a prestigious university like GA Tech would be much more forward-thinking when it comes to the needs of disabled people. read more

Georgia Tech Parking has always been a subject of complaint for many, if not all, Georgia Tech students. Students complain about the long lines, the full lots, the "huge" fines, the failed meters, the inconsistent parking enforcement, and the unclear parking rules. All of these complaints are valid in some degree. Let me see if I can tackle some of them and provide a little relief. Long lines: The parking office is always busy, expect long lines. My suggestion: get there early or late, don't come in around lunch. If you do, be prepared for a long line. If you must come during a busy period, the line usually moves quickly, don't turn away simply due to a long line. Full Lots/Lost Buzzcard: if you have PAID for parking on campus you have every right to park on campus at any time. If your lot is FULL you are still "good to go." DO NOT, DO NOT simply park on a nearby grassy area, a place that "looks like a spot," or somewhere that is "out of the way." PARK IN A PARKING SPACE IN A LOT (NOT A METERED AREA). Park in an adjacent lot (ie, don't park in ER52 if your lot is W01) and go online when you get to class and put in a Out of Area request. As of this writing the OOAR is available at: http://www.parking.gatech.edu/resources/Pages/default.aspx. Fill that out, take note of the number they give you and then... expect a ticket. You will probably get tickets for being "out of area." This is ok, the parking office doesn't correlate OOAR's with those parked out of office yet in real time. Go online, appeal the ticket. Say you filed an OOAR. Put the number in the appeal and the appeal should be dropped. For those of you who park in gated, buzz-card controlled lots, and have forgotten you buzzcard follow the above and you should be fine (OOAR have an option for buzzcard issues). The "Huge" fines: Fines are something that no-one wants to pay but will eventually have to. If you have gotten a parking fine you have several courses of action: If you feel you were partially or completely "in the right" when it came to you ticket you may choose to 1. Appeal the ticket (Written), 2. Appeal the ticket (Oral). If you know you made a mistake you may decide to simple 3. Pay the ticket, or if you hate parking and want to "stick it to the man" you may decide to 4. Ignore the ticket. 1: if you decide to appeal the ticket (written) you will go online to the parking website. Click "My Parking Account" and then appeal tickets. Fill out the information, waive your right to an oral appeal, and your done. A week or so later you will get a decision. If you still have a fine to pay (reduced or otherwise) you will have to pay it. If you do not, you are finished. 2. Oral appeals are very different. You will go through the above process but instead of writing a written appeal, you choose to appeal it orally. Pick a available date (MWF @ 1pm-2pm). At you scheduled time/date you must come to the parking office. When you are called you will be put in a room with the members of the student appeals board. There you will explain you situation, answer any questions they have (if you have pictures, print them out, the appeals board CANNOT look at pictures on a phone), and leave. You will get a decision via Email in the next week. 3. If you decide to pay the ticket, go online. Click "My Parking Account." Click "Pay Tickets." Go through the process and pay your ticket. 4. If you decide to "stick it" to parking you will probably keep getting tickets. When you have gotten enough the next time you were to get a ticket you will be booted. Have fun. NOTE: you have a MUCH better chance of getting a reduced fine if you appeal orally. I suggest that you always appeal. The Failed Meters: If you have a park at a meter on campus. Heed these warnings: DO NOT PARK at a meter that is flashing "failed." It is a no-parking zone, you will be ticketed. Put more money in than you need (A $25 ticket awaits if not). If the meter does NOT take your money or fails while you put money in call the number on the meter. Talk to dispatch and get the name of the dispatcher. Make sure they write down your car make, model, color. You should be good. If you get a ticket. Appeal. Say you called dispatch and if you have (they check) your ticket should be dismissed. Note: don't try to use this for free parking. They aren't dumb. The inconsistent parking enforcement: All I can say for this is that, yes, parking enforcement at Georgia Tech is inconsistent. If you have a parking pass park in your lot. If not, don't park on campus or park at meters. Always park in a parked spot. Don't be an idiot. If you do get a ticket don't be a jack-ass. Be nice to the parking people and they may return the favor. The unclear parking rules: All rules can be found online at parking.gatech.edu I hope my review is helpful to anybody out there. If you have an further question feel free to ask me or call the parking office. read more

Leaving my brothers apartment today, dude hands me a ticket AS I GET IN MY CAR. One minute expired. Argued with him for about 5 minutes, but it was clear that he didn't feel like being a human being today. For all the money I've given them, I'm just plain mad. YOU SUCK. read more

I would give a lower rate if there was. They gave me a ticket for failure to display the permit properly. Come on! I was using the sunshade and the permit was hanged at the mirror all the time. Why not design it as a sticker so I could put it on the window. read more

If there was a 0 star rating yelp, that's what GT parking would get. They hike the price up to ridiculous amounts every year (I think is $632 this year, one of the highest in the country). Despite paying out the wahzoo you still get treated like crap. They never hesitate to slap huge tickets on people's cars. It's not clear how they sleep at night. Probably on beds of my student loan money. Sadly, they're a necessary evil read more

I would give a lower rate if there was. The absolute worst in everything from the parking rates to customer service.

Students pay around $40k a year for tuition and $800 for a parking pass, yet GT Parking treats us horribly. They nickel and dime you for every little thing. They have guidelines that they don't even follow and are almost impossible to find. They change their policies at will without notifying the paying students. Everyone that works at GT Parking takes their job as a Walmart Brand Meter maid too seriously. The garages are a trap. They pick and choose when they will work with buzz cards and when they won't. They take parking spots paid for by students and lease them out to contractors even though this is against their guidelines. read more

Apparently... The parking fee goes up every year... I think it's almost $800 now... Which complete make no sense...terrible...

GT Parking Sucks. Huge parking prices. Huge Tickets. Lots of tickets and terrible enforcement of things that matter.

GA TECH parking rips off the swimmers and their family's with parking. They have raises it to 15.00 per day from 10.00 and we are there 2-3 days. Usually we have to come back later in the day and sometimes they want to charge you again! We have been to other swim events in other states and including GA. But no other school charges!!! Swim Atl needs to find another facility to use and boycott these money grubbers. They are rude, nasty people... One of these days they will piss of the wrong person and bad things will happen. Boycott swim events at GA Tech!!! Go to Auburn or other schools where they know how to be friendly. GA TECH is a nasty school with mean people who only want a buck and do not care about why you had to park. PAY ME! PAY ME!! Inform all the swim people you can to boycott these events and do not visit the food or drink areas. Bring your own so you can pay for their high priced parking and rude people. read more

Makes me want to cry every time I need to dial their number. There is no structure, I just get transferred multiple times only to end at a voice mail where the inbox is full. And this is me trying to call them to let them know of a mistake that they made and hoping they will correct it. Finally the operator told me i had just better come in to the office. read more

GT Parking is undoubtedly the worst department on campus, but everyone knows that. A new low for them: I sent in an appeal for a ticket I got back in January, supposedly had it appealed because they allowed me to purchase a permit, and only just now, almost five months later, sent me an email that stated the appeal was upheld and I need to pay $50. The site states that appeals are usually read within 5 DAYS after the appeal is sent in. But 5 MONTHS later? I refuse to pay that ticket and am trying to take legal action. This department is ridiculous and will leave you wanting to destroy something. Probably the Parking office. read more

I'm so incredibly disappointed with PTS - even more so than Housing, which is pretty impressive right now given that it's taken them 1.5 weeks to address a broken bathtub drain stopper that is only staying open because I used the dislocated handle to prop it up. JUST TODAY. This morning, I left my apartment at 8:30, giving myself about 30 minutes to get to class. I sat at the bus stop along with a slowly accumulating group of students and watched as not one, but FOUR busses on a different (the red) route came and went. Where on earth was the Blue?? And given that two reds arrived at the same time, why wasn't one of them used for another route? Or should the drivers for the blue route be fired for being completely incompetent!! I ended up arriving to class at 9:15. YES, it took 45 minutes to get to a class that, had I walked, would have taken me half the time to get there. You can blame me and say "well why didn't you just walk then?", but that doesn't change the problem. How can PTS charge us $85 a semester for busses that take 40 minutes to arrive?! The busses don't even leave campus! The entire campus takes 10 minutes to drive around. You can be picking up people from ten stops, and it still doesn't justify 40 minutes. There were probably 30-40 students waiting for that one bus. Is one per minute your goal, PTS? NEXT. Today's been rainy, and I just stood outside waiting for the Midnight rambler for 20 minutes to avoid walking home in the drizzle at 11pm (which I was okay with, because it's not peak hour, unlike this morning. My phone's also dead, so it's probably safer just to wait for a bus rather than walk) I'm just hanging out, and it's 11:20pm, and I see the Rambler approach. I step out onto the street and wave, and all of a sudden, the bus just whizzes past me. What??? So I look up the bus route, and the Student Center stop where I'm at isn't a stop. Now, this explains why the driver didn't stop. But here's my thought. If I saw someone at 11:20pm on a cold and rainy evening at a bus stop that's on my way, wouldn't I pick them up? And the bigger problem here is -- the Student Center is what it sounds like, the place where students go to eat/get mail/print things/etc. Sure it's nighttime, but we all know Tech students stay up late. So why wouldn't you make the SC a stop, especially given that it could be dangerous to be there at night (and don't tell me you don't know, Georgia Tech, because there was a GTPD car sitting there on watch the entire time I was waiting)?? It just makes sense. (Side note: GTPD is great. Good ole GTPD.) And it also doesn't kill you or add that much time to just pick someone up if you see them at a bus stop. That same driver must have seen me waiting when she was going in the other direction originally, but instead of even having the courtesy to stop or at least TELL me that she wasn't going to be making a stop where I was, she just ignored me. This is how I feel about the drivers. Seriously, fire them all - minus the guy who runs the Emory shuttle. (He's great.) I had a driver yesterday who talked on the phone for about 10 minutes with all of us waiting on the bus for her, and another couple who would just get off the bus and hang out and make phone calls. I usually don't care since I try to leave early and get to places early or on time, but this is absolutely absurd. If you work as a driver, your job is to DRIVE for your money, not to pick up the cash as a side job while you make personal phone calls. If you don't care enough about working here, don't. You make us all miserable, and god knows we don't need to worry about all this on top of school. (Why else would I be sitting here on a Wednesday night, still at the Student Center because guess whose bus didn't stop for them, typing this review?!) And this isn't all -- see other people's reviews about the $800 parking permit. What a freaking abomination. And don't even get me started on that cute little "Where do Your Parking Dollars Go?" video. We all know that's a bunch of bull; stop working on rebranding and PR, and refocus your (correction: OUR) money on fixing the real issue of terrible employees. read more

Another reason to have a bicycle. I went to Tech in the seventies. The parking situation got a lot worse when the Olympics came to town. There is no good way to park at tech any more. Based on the current prices the spaces are becoming much more valuable than the cars. I'm visiting Tech the weekend of August 20th , 2011. I'm planning on parking at the bookstore and buying some tech t-shirts. Saturday I'll use the free lot and tour the campus. Erik Von Halle Oak Ridge, TN BSEE MORE INFO Read Carefully! http://www.ferstcenter.gatech.edu/plugins/content/index.php?id=5 Free parking after 6 pm and free on weekends. read more

They are just terrible department which is trying to take more money away from students. Sometimes they are using kind of traps to give more tickets. Wish I could give zero star. read more

Seriously if you have to have a car on campus in college or are planning to, do not come to georgia tech. there is almost no parking near any of the east campus student housing and if you want a spot get in line. The parking staff is completely ignorant and customer service is almost 0. There are no waiting lists for parking decks and yet no parking decks ever seem to be filled up. The tickets range from 25-50 dollars and there are no warnings. Parking passes cost $700 a year and don't think you can get away with parking your car next to you dorm to unload groceries... they ticket about every 15 minutes and have no remorse. My parents got a ticket while helping move my stuff out of their car into my dorm. Its unbelievable that a school this good has such a horrible parking situation. I have to walk a half mile to my car and it is the closest available lot, yet new buildings and athletic facilities are going up all the time yet no parking decks to help the problem. Not to mention the buses and trollies (which presumably the money goes to fund) are always late and slow and make random 5 minute stops whenever they feel like it. If you message the parking and transportation department, more often than not you won't get a response and if you do, its sarcastic. I had a friend drop me off one time and they came inside to see my room. They weren't there for more than 10 minutes and they were given a parking ticket. Keep in mind the car was not obstructing any traffic or was there any shortage of parking at the time. Also there is no visitor parking with in 10 minutes walking. It was a quick stop just to see my place. My friend appealed the ticket explaining the situation. The response was, and I quote "a parking spot is in between to white lines." That is what you are going to be dealing with. On another note, if you try to find where all the money that the school brings in from parking passes and tickets, you won't find it. They don't list their expenses anywhere. If you travel campus on any day, you can count numbers of parking tickets everywhere, where does all the money go? I would like to see some numbers on how many tickets they write each year. In short, if you fork the $700, expect to pay another $100 in tickets in a year. Anything from parking too close to a handicap spot to parking past hours in a residential spot, to parking in a lot designated for tailgating. They find ways to get as much money out of anyone that drives onto this campus. It isn't right and is not fair, and the school ignores the problem. And don't expect the staff to be any help, who needs customer service when you can hand out tickets? I will not be donating to the school after i graduate because they refuse to approach this problem. read more

I walked down as my car was about to be towed. I was told if I paid my fees right then I wouldn't be towed. I struggled to pay them online and the parking attendant offered to drive me to the transportation office. I ecstatically accepted. Not only were all the employees extremely courteous, but they genuinely cared about helping me and not towing my car. Best experience possible for the situation. read more

I wish I can give them negative stars. I bought a parking permit for an outrageous price of almost $800. I called and asked them if it was ok to park my car until the permit has been mailed to me and they said yes, since my information is in their records. I received 3 citations following that and called them again. They said they will appeal all the charges. Half a month later, I received an email asking me to pay my citations. So I called them again to appeal. The lady who answered me had an attitude, kept talking over my attempt to explain the situation, and tried to hang up on me. SO in addition to overpriced parking fees, their service is comprised of rude people acting like ostriches (their eyes are bigger than their brains). read more

Opportunistic and greedy. You appeal with a reasonable reason and all they do is half your ticket price.

The parking enforcement system at tech is totally ridiculous. Recently they replaced the perfectly good pay as you leave parking system at the physics building guest lot with a prepay machine filled with problems for no apparent reason. Well there is one obvious reason, so they can write more tickets and further screw over their students! They probably make more money on the tickets than the actual parking charges. In the old system no tickets were issued and students would simply pay for their parking as they left. Now they write $25 tickets for any car who's time has expired and sometimes even write tickets when the cars have paid for parking, such as this morning when I got a ticket despite having paid for more time than I spent in the spot (I'll appeal but I shouldn't have to deal with this crap when I did not violate any rules). Half the time the machine doesn't accept credit cards or cash or just quits accepting all forms of payment causing more people to go unpaid and thus letting them write more tickets. When it breaks you can call the help line but they just say they'll send someone to check on it and hang up on you. In addition the machine usually doesn't give any change but it will happily accept your $20 bill for $1 worth of parking. If they need more money just raise tuition slightly rather than going out of their way to screw their students with parking tickets. read more

The parking nightmare isn't just for students. I pay $700/year for the privilege of parking in a deck I get kicked out of every time anyone even THINKS about an athletic event on campus. Ok, fine. But I come to my legally parked car in the lot it is supposed to be in clearly displaying my current pass, and I have a ticket for "failure to display." I inform them that that assessment was just clearly false and that I won't be paying. They deny my appeal. My parking pass was where it always is, on my RVM, but I also have little gloves hanging there, and they claim that those tiny little gloves "partially obscured" what was clearly a current parking pass with numbers you could read. It's, amazingly, only a $10 fine, and I'm sure I'll have to pay it. But get this. They sent me two emails with the results of my appeal, but I couldn't open either of them, and it was sent from a DO NOT REPLY address, so I finally just forwarded it to gmail, which worked. In it, I was informed that if I didn't pay within ten days, I'll owe $5 more, ad infinitum. So stage two of unethical revenue generation appears to be cloaking the information in the hopes that the passholder does not get it and therefore owes more money. Next year, screw parking, I'm taking MARTA. read more