The University of Wollongong has fewer parking spaces per student than almost any other university, according to new figures published by Wollongong City Council.
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A campus parking comparison of 10 campuses, done by planning firm Cardno, shows that UOW - at best - has 5.2 students vying for every car space, which is a worse ratio than all but two Sydney CBD institutions.
However, if the real number of car spaces able to be used by students is taken into account (the document says the majority of UOW's parking is unavailable to students), up to 16 students have to vie for every spot.
"This ratio of student parking is significantly lower than that at other universities surveyed in the past, and is generally consistent only with city-centre campuses at UNSW and University of Sydney," the Cardno study says.
The student parking ratio is part of the council's new draft Keiraville - Gwynneville Traffic and Movement Study.
It aims to develop strategies to improve the transport system in the suburbs surrounding the university.
Parking was identified by surveyed residents as being the biggest issue, and - according to the Cardno study - "UOW students make up the largest group for parking demand".
"Some of the parking demand is satisfied on-site by 1029 ticket parking bays (plus approxmiately 350 car pool and 150 specialty bays)," the study says.
These car spaces, "reached or exceeded" capacity on most days, while reserved car parking (which which make up 60 per cent of the university's car spaces and are mostly used by staff) "was underutilised on campus, with an average of 54 per cent usage throughout the day".
The university co-funded the study, and has been involved in workshops and other consultations as part of its development.
Asked what it planned to do to address the highlighted student parking ratio problem, spokesman Andrew Herring said the university was not in a position to directly address the question.
The university was unable to commit one way or another to building more student parking. However it did highlight its ongoing plan for a "modal shift" away from cars.
"The university has made a considerable progress in achieving the modal shift away from private vehicle use towards active and public transport modes," Mr Herring said.
"The 2019 mode share results demonstrate that 50.2% of the campus population use private transport, 21.3% of the campus use active transport, and 28.5% use public transport."
This is a significant shift from the 2009 uses, in which the campus population used 72.7% private transport, 23.2% public transport and 4.1% active transport.
"These results show that the university is on track to achieve the UOW Master Plan 2020-2036 targets of 50% private transport, 32% public transport and 19% active transport," Mr Herring said.