Students and staff at the University of Canberra need to drive slowly once they arrive on campus this morning, lest they run into a large metal obstacle.
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A series of boom gates have been installed at the entrances of the large southern carparks and will begin operating this morning.
Students and staff need to swipe their staff or student cards to get through, but parking remains free all day for authorised users.
The decision to install boom gates is a result of long-running evidence of car-park theft by a combination of nearby Belconnen workers and city commuters using the UC as a park-and-drive station en route by bus into Civic. One keen observer said early buses to the campus had more besuited public servants boarding at the university than students disembarking.
Commuters arrived about 8am and left about 6pm, taking a carpark for the entire day, while students tended to come in and out.
Carparking pressures have reached crisis point on campus with the student population growing more than 40 per cent since 2007.
There are now more than 12,000 students and 1000 staff arriving daily, the majority of whom drive to work.
The UC provides free parking for more than 3500 vehicles, one of the highest carpark-to-student ratios in the country.
Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker, who coined the phrase: ''A university is a collection of disciplines brought together by a common concern over car parking'' said the ''evidence therefore suggests that UC is a true university''.
He had received numerous representation on how difficult parking had become.
Professor Parker noted the university was one of a small number of universities which did not charge students for parking and he had so far resisted calls for it to be introduced.
The boom gates are part of a wider revamp of campus transport which includes better lighting, better signage, and a new carpark for 78 vehicles behind the new International Microsimulation Centre to reflect increased activity in that part of the campus.
New on-street parking near the new Inspire Centre is now also available.
In supporting cycling students, the UC was also installing new bike racks and bike maintenance stations, the first of their kind in Australia.
Shower facilities had recently been refurbished for cyclists and runners arriving on campus in a lather.
Advice from a parking consultant in preparation of the revamp suggested UC had adequate parking for almost the entire year but it operates overflow carparks in the peak demand times at the beginning of each semester to increase capacity.
Traffic disruptions could be apparent this morning while staff, students and interlopers work the new system out.
