Oct. 4, 2001

Putting Campus Parking in Perspective

Customer Service Primary Goal for Byron Wills

By Greg Licamele

Byron Wills and his staff are tasked with fitting a population of 30,000 people into approximately 3,000 parking spaces.

That might seem like an infinite problem plagued by special events, weather, and construction in a congested, urban jungle. But as the program manager of Parking Services for the last five years, Wills has navigated the GW parking maze by using technology and effective enforcement as the department’s primary tools.

“We maximize every space on campus,” Wills says, “but what we’ve done is computerize every aspect of our business. Most lots are driven by computers and card-access gates that give a real-time inventory of how many spaces we have at any time during the day.”

These hourly accounts allow Wills and his 35 co-workers to manage, direct, and prepare for each day and every event that comes to the streets of Foggy Bottom. Of the 3,000 available spaces, faculty and staff members fill approximately 1,600 slots on a regular basis, Wills says. Then there are the 4,000 “occasional” parkers made up of students, faculty, and staff who buy daily tickets. Toss visitors and other contractors into the parking mix, and Wills needs that computer technology to track the comings and goings of all who visit, study, and work at GW.

Besides computer data, Parking Services receives its fair share of telephone calls and face-to-face feedback. Wills says the two biggest challenges are congestion and construction.

“At the end of a ball game, for instance, you may have traffic backed up on 22nd and 23rd streets,” Wills says. “We get calls. You try and let them know there is traffic, but the bottom line is that the professor who is caught in a lane that has patrons from a basketball game wants to get home.”

Wills and his staff practice patience and remind each other that customer service is a main goal.

“Customer service is not only for patrons who are visitors,” Wills explains. “Students are my customers. Staff are my customers. Faculty are my customers. We look at every area within our operation and every
constituency we have to provide service for.”

Wills prefers the diversity at GW as opposed to his previous job running parking operations at regional airports, where “it’s the same types of transactions everyday.” At GW, Wills serves as an event planner, crisis committee consultant, construction adviser, and neighborhood ambassador. When he meets with members of the Athletics Department or Student and Academic Support Services, for example, he brings a simple message: “We’re here to accommodate, so you tell me what you need and we will find a way for it to happen,” Wills declares. “With basketball season coming, we accommodate and have reduced-rate programs for season-ticket holders to channel them off of the streets and into our garages to take care of traffic and congestion issues.”

As for construction issues, Wills sees them as a blessing and a curse. “It creates dust, dirt, and inconvenience for customers,” Wills says. “It hampers our ability to come and go. On the flip side, I cannot get more spaces unless I go through that construction phase. With the District, I know we won’t have good roads unless I allow them to come in.”

One construction project that will benefit Wills’ job and the GW community is the new Elliott School of International Affairs building on E Street. He expects to add more than 200 new spaces to his parking program when the project is finished. And, since the primary University garage is located between H and I streets, Wills says the new Elliott School will bring a semblance of parking balance to campus.

Recent projects such as the Health and Wellness Center and the Media and Public Affairs Building have provided more parking for the GW community with underground garages as opposed to the above-ground lots the buildings have replaced. “However, no matter how much space you give me, we will always be able to fill it because the demand is so high,” Wills says, “so we encourage folks to use mass transit.”

Wills does a lot of encouraging, cajoling, and directing in his multi-faceted job that begins the second he turns his cell phone on as he drives to the H Street garage. Despite the hectic schedules and planning, he gets a lot of satisfaction.

“Being a parking manager allows me the ability to look at a complete picture as opposed to being a part of a department with a piece here and a piece there,” Wills explains. “I’ve got a complete area to manage. It gives me the autonomy to be more direct in my approach and operate a full picture.”

 

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu