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There are three options for Visitor Parking:

1. No provision for the visitor to park, and the visitor finds a space on the street.
2. The visitor is directed to the Visitor Parking lot, where he/she pays for the parking at a low rate when the parking ticket from the lot is validated by a Brown department.
3. VIP Parking or Visitor Pass Parking, where the Department pre-purchases at the Department's expense a Visitor Pass for Lot 2, 9 or 68 .

Visitor Parking Lot
Visitor Passes

Visitor Parking Lot

The Visitor Parking Lot is located on Brook Street behind Minden Hall.  The lot has 55 spaces.  The lot, which is attended, is reserved for those who have business at the University, including anyone with a Brown ID.  Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 8 am to 6 pm when the University is open for business. 

This lot is for the use of Admissions visitors, vendors, departmental visitors, and employees who have an occasional need to drive to Campus (eg. they have a doctor's appointment in the middle of the day) but who do not wish to incur the cost of an annual parking permit because they use mass transit most of the time ("occasional parkers").  In order to discourage those who are not on University business from using the lot, the lot will charge two sets of rates:  a schedule of discounted rates for parkers with validated tickets, and market rates (i.e. downtown rates) for those whose tickets are not validated:

Rates for Jul 2007-Jun 2008 

The department the visitor goes to validates the ticket in order to confirm that the visitor was there on University business, but there is no cost to the department as a result of the validation, merely a discount for the visitor, who bears the cost of parking.  Those with Brown IDs do not need to obtain a validation stamp to obtain the discounted rate. 

There is an attendant in the lot from 8 am until 6 pm.  Everyone entering the lot is given the option to prepay to 6 pm if they anticipate they will stay later than 6 pm.  When the lot closes, the attendant notes the license plates of any vehicles which have not prepaid and whose owners have not yet returned, and the Transportation Office issues a ticket to the owner of that vehicle.  The fine due will be the amount due for the hours between 8 am and 6 pm that the vehicle was parked in the lot, calculated at the non-validated higher rate (since the ticket is unvalidated) plus a $20 handling fee for the cost of locating the owner and collecting the parking fee.  Cars left in the lot overnight are towed at owner's expense if still in the lot after 8 am the following morning.

Overnight guests at the Inn at Brown may obtain parking permits from the Inn. Those attending conferences at Brown may obtain parking permits from Conference Services.

Two maps were developed by PAUR for the new lot, one version for the Office of Admission, another for general departmental use.  The general version has a space on the back where a department can write in directions from the visitor parking lot to the departmental office.  Both versions are designed to print out and copy well in black and white. 

Office of Admission Map and Directions

General University Map and Directions

Visitor Parking Pass (visitor parking paid for by the department visited)

The Visitor Parking Pass that has been used to provide parking to visitors in various lots around the campus continues to be available, but since there is now a Visitor Parking Lot, a Visitor Parking Pass should be used only to provide parking for important visitors to Brown for whom a department would like to purchase parking, such as guest speakers and job candidates.  Any department may purchase as many Visitor Parking Passes as it wishes, subject to a reasonable supply of spaces in the lot requested, but this parking is at department expense and therefore should be used wisely and monitored by departmental finance officers. 

A new procedure for purchasing Visitor Parking Passes has been implemented effective January 3.  A department wishing to purchase passes should print out the internal purchase form below, complete it, and email it to transportation@brown.edu or fax it to 3-7522 or send it via campus mail to the Transportation Office, Box 1842.   The Visitor Pass rate (paid by the department) is $7 per day for fiscal 2005.

Visitor Parking Pass Form - pdf version

Visitor Parking Pass Form - Word version

For further information: If you have any questions or require assistance, please call the Transportation Office at 3-3157 or email us at transportation@brown.edu .