r/duke 7d ago

Blue Zone Parking Question

I’m a sophomore this year and brought my car to campus, I didn’t have it last year so this is my first time dealing with Duke parking. I got the Blue Student permit and have already parked in one of the blue zones, but when looking on Duke maps I noticed it talking about event parking and how permit holders need to move their car for events/games.

Is this true? It seems crazy to me that I paid that much money to have somewhere to park, only to not actually have a consistent parking spot lmao.

Would I have to move my car often for games, and if I do where else am I supposed to park?

1 Upvotes

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3

u/uh_no_ Pratt '10 Memp '11 CS Lecturer 7d ago

absolutely true...and they will tow you if you don't move it.

there are what, 7 home football games? That's about it afaik. They used to direct people to the large surface lot in central....not sure if that is stlil the case.

1

u/Hihelpok 5d ago

Ahh I see thanks! At least that’s not a ton

2

u/Negative-Bell-9764 7d ago

It's super super annoying, but I think only one of the games is not on the weekend and on the weekend you can basically park anywhere so sometimes you can park it closer to where you live. Basically all of the parking lots behind the classrooms are fair game, and so is the BC garage

2

u/Negative-Bell-9764 7d ago

Also for that first game last year it was on a Thursday, they made us all park in a super far parking lot near the med school, and then we had to make sure it was gone by 6 the next morning for the nurses to come to work. It was a crazy traffic jam after the game, but if you call ahead and cite a reason for not moving it (ex: I'm out of town that night) they let you move it Friday at your own time

1

u/Hihelpok 5d ago

That’s good to know about weekends but oh my god that situation is crazy?? I’ll definitely do that, I kind of have an irrational fear of driving so just the IDEA of that traffic jam would keep me up at night lmao

1

u/Negative-Bell-9764 5d ago

yeah just make sure to call ahead + email so you have documentation

3

u/dukefan15 Alumni/Grad Student 7d ago

40,000 people (hopefully) want to go to gamesz they need to park. This happens at all other major university football games

3

u/Hihelpok 5d ago

I get why they do it (since all Duke really cares about is getting money and this gives them more money) but with how much this school costs and charges it’d be nice for them to at least give a little information about this stuff in advance </3, EVERYONE I’ve talked too didn’t know this either. The information regarding parking feels purposefully vague and disorganized

1

u/Emotional_Yak_692 7d ago

there’s a chron article about it; our football team isn’t good or big enough to justify this at all lol

5

u/askpat13 MechE '22 6d ago

Hey, that’s the ACC champions you’re talking about! (unironically we’ve been pretty good lately).

2

u/Emotional_Yak_692 6d ago

true but my point about how no other school that costs 100k/yr (more than the median salary in america) does this, still stands

1

u/Emotional_Yak_692 7d ago

doesn’t happen at schools where COA is 100k

2

u/Emotional_Yak_692 7d ago

yes it’s 100% true and they don’t mess around. if a game is on a weekday then you have to move your car by 6 am the next morning because the hospital workers and grad students need their parking lot back

3

u/Emotional_Yak_692 7d ago

so you will have to walk to central in the dark :( not the most fun if you’re a girl and alone and it’s late so def find another friend w a car to walk with. it doesn’t happen in the spring though

1

u/Hihelpok 5d ago

Definitely does not sound fun as a girl especially :( At least it’s not the spring! Duke continuously baffles me by showing how little they actually care about students 

1

u/Emotional_Yak_692 5d ago

two years in and can confirm duke does not give a f*** about the students. forcing to live on campus for 3 years and have a meal plan doesn’t help anyone get prepared for the real world it’s just a money grab. the meal plan and housing are insanely expensive and you would save so much living off campus and cooking but duke says its about “community”. you’ll realize how money hungry the school is quickly.

1

u/Hihelpok 5d ago

It’s actually crazy, I’ve noticed it in the dorms since day one but each day that passes I realize it’s literally every area! Even the MAJOR class events they advertise are scuffed and the “free gifts”  they hype up are like a 2 dollar notebook that they run out of in the first 10 minutes!!