By: Hailey Colwell

After 39 years at the University of Minnesota, Executive Director of Parking and Transportation Services Bob W. Baker announced he will retire in early June. 

During his 23 years as head of Parking and Transportation Services, Baker expanded parking space on campus by 50 percent, started the U-Pass program and advocated for the University’s interests in the Central Corridor light-rail line’s intersection of campus.

Baker began his work at the University in 1974 as a residence hall director for Territorial Hall, which was all-male at the time.

He recalled the testosterone-filled dorm as being “kind of crazy” and soon convinced the University to make it co-ed, which he said he looks back on as a big accomplishment.

After about 15 years in Housing and Residential Life, Baker took a job as acting parking manager for the University’s then-called Parking Services, which he helped to expand to Parking and Transportation Services in the early 90s.

One of the biggest problems he worked to address after his move to Parking and Transportation was the University’s shortage of parking spaces, he said. 

“We had about 80,000 people coming to the University and we had about 12,000 parking spaces,” he said.

In response to this, Baker oversaw the building of six parking garages — including the Fourth Street Ramp and the East River Road Garage.

 “There is this perception, I think, that’s still out there that parking is hard at the University,” Baker said. “What we tried to do was we tried to make it easier, we tried to make it friendlier.”

Though he said building parking garages fulfilled a need at the University, he’s most proud of starting the U-Pass, an unlimited bus pass for students. The U-Pass program and a redesign of the University’s campus shuttle system caused campus transit use to skyrocket, which he said was a great way to curb parking demand on campus.

“You simply cannot build your way out of parking demand,” he said. “There’s only so much land and there’s only so many dollars and there’s only so many streets that you can get people to park [on],” Baker said. “We quickly discovered that we really needed to change our message and tell people to leave their cars at home and to look for alternative transportation methods.”

For the past eight years, Baker has represented the University’s interests in negotiations for the Central Corridor light-rail line, which will run through the University when it enters service in 2014. Throughout the negotiations of how the light-rail will affect the campus, he said safety, research, aesthetics and future development opportunities are the priorities he advocates most for.

Most importantly, he said he’s worked to ensure that the many laboratories on Washington Avenue are not affected by vibration and electromagnetic interference from the light-rail.

“That’s what we do at this University,” he said. “We research and we take that research and we apply it through teaching and through various business opportunities that we think will benefit society.”

Transportation Systems Design Manager Sandy Cullen, who worked with Baker for six years on light-rail negotiations, said she’ll miss the “good cop, bad cop” rapport they used in the process.

“It was always great to have that leadership there,” she said.

Baker said he trusts his team will be able to carry on smoothly after he leaves and his replacement has yet to be decided.

“If you’re gonna have any chance of success,” he said, “You gotta be organized, you gotta be at the table when decisions are made and you gotta be able to delegate, because if you try and do everything yourself, it isn’t going to get done.”

He said he looks forward to fishing, traveling and going for long walks with his wife at their lake home in Nisswa, Minn., which they will move to as soon as he retires.