Parking Services Frequently Asked Questions

Online registration is available through the Student Center under personal information (students) or employee tools (employees) at Butler during the start of the fall semester. It is typically open in late July and closes in early September. After the close of online registration, all permits may be registered in the parking services office for the remainder of the academic year.

You can obtain a replacement permit from the Parking Services office. Replacement permits may only be issued at a reduced cost if the old permit sticker is returned to Parking Services as requried by the Parking Regulations. The replacement permit cost is $5. Registering the new vehicle without returning the old permit sticker will be at the new permit cost.

If you lost your ID during normal business hours (8:00 AM–4:30 PM M–F), please visit Parking Services located in the Sunset Avenue Garage Suite 500. If it is after normal business hours, you may visit BUPD dispatch located at 525 West Hampton Drive. Please note the Office of Parking Services is closed from noon–1:00 PM daily for lunch. The fee for a replacement ID is $20.

Yes. Any vehicle on University owned or leased property that is parked by faculty, staff, students, or contractors requires a permit 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Some “A” Permit (Staff/Faculty) areas open up to student permits after 5:00 PM Monday through Friday and all day on weekends. Those areas will have this written directly on the posted signage for that area and there is no overnight parking permitted. Visitors are required to park in visitor parking areas such as the Sunset Avenue Parking garage and are not allowed in the permit controlled surface parking areas unless they have paid for event parking.

Unless otherwise noted, all lots require that vehicles display an appropriate permit at all times. Open parking will not be allowed in the evening hours.

Butler University is required to enforce that our employees, students and affiliates do not park on the public streets within the Butler Tarkington neighborhood. Information is included below regarding this regulation and any exceptions for those that live in the neighborhood.

In 1989, the City of Indianapolis enacted legal commitments at the request of the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Association that require Butler University to enforce that students, employees and affiliates do not park in the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood.

The neighborhood’s boundaries are 38th Street (south), Meridian Street (east), and the Central Canal on the West and North.

A map of the area surrounding the University with the Butler Tarkington neighborhood's boundaries marked, running from 38th St to Meridian St to the Central Canal

Students, employees or affiliates that live in the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood are eligible for an “R” sticker that represents an exemption from this requirement for the purposes of parking near their homes. This sticker can only be obtained in person in the Parking Services office once your legal address has been updated with registration and records.

Relevant Butler Parking Regulations

II. Procedure

A. Vehicle Registration & Permits

Any registered student, faculty member, staff member, or member of an affiliated group with office space on campus:

must register their vehicle and obtain a current year parking permit to park anywhere on campus or an authorized city street,
is prohibited from parking on the streets within the Butler Tarkington Neighborhood (see Neighborhood Parking section below for further details)

Neighborhood Parking—Butler University, in agreement with the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association, has placed restrictions for parking on neighborhood streets. Student, faculty/staff, and affiliate vehicles are required to park on University-controlled property as a result of a legal commitment. The only exceptions are designated city controlled streets with signs that read “Butler University permitted parking, by permit only.” Vehicles parking on these streets are required to be registered with the Department of Public Safety. Vehicles parking along the south side of West 44th Street require a permit from the City of Indianapolis, Department of Code Enforcement. This permit is free and may be obtained at 1200 Madison Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46225. This department can be reached at 317-327-8700. You will need to provide proof of your residential address. A Butler University identification card or driver’s license is also required. The hours of the Department of Code Enforcement are: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM, Wednesday, Noon–5:00 PM, and Friday, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM.

Neighborhood parking permit—Any faculty, staff, or student residing in the Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood is permitted to be issued a Butler University BTNA permit identifying them as a resident of the neighborhood. The permit can be obtained at the Department of Public Safety Office of Parking Services during business hours. In order to obtain a permit the resident must show a copy of his/her lease or a current utility bill statement. There is no cost for the permit. This permit does not allow for parking on University controlled property.

Students and employees may not park as visitors. The parking regulations regulations require them to have a permit to park on campus at all times. For the purposes of parking, Butler defines visitors as those that are not required to have a permit by the parking regulations. Common visitor parking areas are at Hinkle Fieldhouse, the Sunset Avenue Parking Garage, metered parking spaces and Holcomb Gardens. Some areas near Robertson Hall are reserved specifically for Admissions visitors.

Visitors may park in the Sunset Avenue Parking garage or in the Hinkle Lot during the day. Visitors may also use the metered parkin spaces with payment of the meter. Overnight visitors on campus should obtain a Temporary Parking permit for the “I” lot from parking services or BUPD Dispatch. Permit requirements are enforced on evenings and weekends. Faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to read the lot signs, or view the Parking Map, to understand what group(s) can park where.

Yes. All registered students and active employees who bring a vehicle to campus for any reason must have a valid parking permit. Failure to do so could result in a ticket.

Students who live off campus may purchase a “C” Permit for $135. This allows parking in commuter spaces located in the Hinkle parking lot as well as the sunset avenue parking garage. An “E” (Evening) permit is a $50 permit that allows the person to park in commuter permit areas Monday through Friday after 5:00 PM and all day on Weekends. There is no overnight parking for “C” and “E” permits.

Visitors may park in the Hinkle fieldhouse parking lot without a permit. Employees, students and affiliates are not considered visitors in terms of parking. If you are faculty/staff or a student, you must have a permit to park in the Hinkle lot. Random checks will be made and tickets will be issued if faculty, staff, or students park in the Hinkle lot without appropriate permits. Overnight parking in this lot is strictly prohibited.

If your overnight vehicle parking is taken care of by parking in a private lot, then you are not required to purchase a permit as long as you travel to campus by some other means than driving. However, if you plan to park on campus property for any length of time, you will need a permit. The Hinkle lot and the parking garage are both campus property. Both “C” and “E” permits are available to Greek students who wish to park on campus but do not have overnight parking needs. Failure to have a permit on your vehicle when parking on campus owned or controlled property could result in a ticket.

At this time, Butler’s policy for residential (B permits) and long-term (I permits) will be to only issue as many permits as there are parking spaces. This will be held to during the fall semester and the situation will be evaluated prior to the spring semester to see if additional permits should be made available due to vehicles being removed from campus (study abroad, transfers, un-enrollment or graduation). This is important in order to ensure that available spaces are going to those that need them.

As has been common practice for many years, we will continue to issue more faculty/staff permits (A) and commuter permits (C) than we have spaces, since not all faculty/staff and commuters are on campus at the same times. These policies may be revised as needed to manage capacity and demand.

Butler parking permits provide you with permission to park your vehicles on campus, but do not guarantee that you will find the space you want in the lot of your choice. Parking is on a first-come, first-served basis, which means you should allow sufficient time in your schedule to find a parking space and walk to your destination.

Permitting of all vehicles brought onto campus is important for many reasons including the security of our students and employees, effective management of a scarce resource, and revenue generation to maintain the facilities appropriately. Any individual who brings a vehicle onto campus must display a valid permit on the vehicle. Fines are issued for failure to comply with these rules.

Yes. A UT, BT, or South Campus Apartments permit (T) is a flex permit that allows you use of the Hinkle lot and Commuter (C permit) spaces. Overnight parking will be prohibited in the Hinkle lot and C permit spaces at all times. Obtaining a one of these decals will also give you access to the parking garage with your ID badge. No overnight parking is permitted in the garage.

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Parking Services Frequently Asked Questions