In just over a year, the University of Mississippi’s first parking and transportation director Isaac Astill helped Ole Miss take steps to improve parking on campus, including significant increases in the use of public transit systems by the UM community and a plan for a new parking garage set to break ground in November.
On Nov. 15, Astill will step down to return to his home state as director of facilities for Tooele County in Utah, an opportunity to reunite with his extended family. Astill came to UM after serving as operations manager for commuter services at the University of Utah.
UM has opened a nationwide search to fill his position.
“Isaac made great strides moving us to a pedestrian campus, and he did a tremendous job incorporating the transportation system and the OUT buses into the daily fabric of campus life,” said Clay Jones, assistant vice chancellor and director of human resources and contractual services for UM. “This will have to continue as we move forward toward the master plan, which calls for the center of campus to be car-free and pedestrian-friendly. We hate to see him go but understand that he’s been offered a significant career opportunity and a way to return to the part of the country he’s most familiar with.”
During his tenure at UM, Astill collected data and worked closely with the Parking and Transportation Committee, a group of faculty, staff and students, to gain information and create recommendations to tackle some of the university’s biggest parking challenges. The committee’s work culminated in a three-year plan that became effective July 1.
The plan includes a new online vehicle registration system to reduce wait times, as well as expanded hours for campus shuttles.
In September, the Oxford-University-Transit bus system saw record ridership of 120,000 rides, 96 percent of which were by members of the UM community. The new parking garage, to be located southwest of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, will add 829 parking stalls to campus and is expected to be ready for fall 2014, Astill said.
As part of the data collection process, the parking committee studied parking policies at universities in the state, region and the SEC, which helped with decisions to replace decals with hangtags and to adjust pricing strategies.
“We found that we charged way below market rates for parking,” Astill said. “To operate appropriately and increase resources across campus, we needed to get at least to market rates.”
While new ideas could come from the new parking director, the university will continue along the general path led by Astill, Jones said.
“Just a few years ago we had about 12,000 or 13,000 students and now we’ve got 18,000 on this campus,” Jones said. “We have to move toward mass transit and a pedestrian campus – it’s just got to happen.”
Astill will begin work with Tooele County on Nov. 18. He and his wife, Carina, are looking forward to moving back home with their children, Rylee, Graycee and Cooper, to be near their families, but he said they will miss the many friendships formed at Ole Miss.
“I’ve grown tremendously since I’ve been here,” Astill said. “The administration has been incredibly supportive – I can’t say that enough. I’ll always be a fan of Ole Miss. It’s a great school, and Oxford is a great city.”