PATS to award one lucky student with free reserved parking for a week

The free parking contest was created to make students more aware of LISTSERV, the application PATS uses to send email alerts and announcements to the USF community.

USF Parking and Transportation Services (PATS) has the solution to every student’s parking nightmare — but it comes in the form of a raffle ticket.

PATS is holding its first raffle to give students a chance to win a free reserved parking space for one week in a location of their choice.

As of Feb. 3, only four people have entered the raffle, which is why PATS extended the contest deadline from Feb. 5 to Feb. 12, according to Director of PATS Raymond Mensah.

Students with a valid USF permit can enter their names into the raffle by signing up to receive parking alerts and announcements. Existing subscribers of these alerts, however, cannot participate in the raffle.

The winner also cannot choose a spot that is already reserved.

An email will be sent to the randomly selected winner and announced on multiple social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. 

The contest started as a way to make students more aware of LISTSERV, the application used to send email alerts and announcements to the community.

“Emails are sent to notify the USF community of Bull Runner reroutes, parking lot/garage closures, special event alerts, permit purchase reminders and more,” said Mensah.

It also provides a list of certain parking lots on campus that would be shut down during the day for the scheduled events.

PATS hopes to use this raffle to inform the USF community of the application.

“Subscribing to the LISTSERV allows us to keep the USF community informed of significant events or announcements that may impact their parking or transportation experience,” said Mensah.