Parking passes on sale for University of Tennessee: How to buy amid major changes

Parking permits are on sale now for students attending the University of Tennessee at Knoxville this fall, and the process looks different this time because of changes approved by the UT System Board of Trustees . Administrators launched a campus parking overhaul to alleviate congestion in the heart of the campus.

The permits are now tiered to give graduate students and seniors top priority. UT is encouraging first-year students not to bring a car to campus.

Permits can be purchased online at parking.utk.edu on the following dates:

• Graduate students and seniors : On sale now
• Juniors : July 29
• Sophomores : July 30
• Freshmen : July 31

Commuters will have three types of permits available, organized by zones. The zones are determined by traffic counts and are tiered based on their proximity to popular areas for students.

• Core zone: $390
• Intermediate zone: $250
• Remote zone: $198

Noncommuter students are only allowed to access two zones: a core zone pass for $450 and an intermediate zone pass for $310. These passes are only available to students who have signed a UT housing contract.

What else is new for parking permits for the University of Tennessee?

Students will have free rides on Knoxville Area Transit buses starting Aug. 12. Faculty and staff also can ride for free, but only if they are going to or from campus.

Students, faculty and staff need to present a VolCard to receive free rides.

UT also will offer a park-and-ride pass for faculty, staff members and commuter students. This will allow permit holders to park at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum in downtown and ride a UT bus to Neyland Stadium from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays.

These passes cost $99 and are available now.

For students and staff on campus after 5:30 p.m., KAT buses run from Cumberland Avenue to the Knoxville Transit Center across the street from the coliseum. Students and staff with one of these permits also can park in unreserved staff and commuter areas on campus after 5 p.m.

UT will add eight more campus buses to its routes this year to alleviate traffic on campus. The university is spending money to improve mobile pay options, update the parking website and provide better data for parking availability across campus.

UT will add more than 1,000 hourly mobile pay spaces starting Aug. 1, but the university is encouraging alternative forms of transportations such as walking and biking.

Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com . X, formerly known as Twitter @specialk2real .

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Parking passes on sale for University of Tennessee: How to buy amid major changes