By the Numbers: From Parking Tickets to Police Calls, PSU Spring Break Slows the Region

You wouldn’t know it now, with the sun-washed sidewalks buzzing and sidewalk cafes in full swing.

But a week ago, State College was nearly a ghost town.

Penn State’s spring break brings one of the few true slowdowns that the Centre Region sees anymore. Even the summer months, once a relatively still period in town, now host steady activity in the State College area.

Spring-break week, though — it remains a calm spell. Some restaurants close early on weekdays. Traffic falls to a relative trickle. The airport and bus terminal become some of the busiest spots as students and townsfolk flee. (University classes halt for the break week, though many Penn State business offices do remain open.)

To gauge just how much State College relaxes for the break period, StateCollege.com checked in with a few major entities — the borough parking department and the Berkey Creamery among them. Their numbers tell the story.

Borough parking
During the break period, State College borough parking officers issue about 25 percent fewer tickets for meter violations, said borough Parking Manager Charles DeBow. In the downtown public parking garages, usage dips nearly 50 percent. The garages saw 3,720 vehicles at daily-rate prices during the spring-break work week, down from 7,002 the prior week.

Berkey Creamery
At Penn State’s Berkey Creamery, weekday sales can drop off by as much as 50 percent during the break, Manager Tom Palchak said. He said the mild weather this year mitigated the declines. Still, the Creamery’s dairy-plant production slowed for a few days. Production and sales returned to normal early this week as unseasonably warm weather helped to refuel demand, Palchak said.

State College Borough Water Authority
Normally, the authority pumps just upward of five million gallons of water each day, supplying the borough and the adjacent townships. But demand falls back by about a million gallons a day during the spring-break period, said authority Executive Director Max Gill. He said demand slows the Friday before break and doesn’t fully resume until the Sunday before classes begin anew. Likewise, the University Area Joint Authority sees sewage flow decline by about 750,000 gallons a day during the break, said Executive Director Cory Miller.

University police
For police in the area, spring break marks one of the least-demanding times of year. No where is the ease-up more dramatic than on the University Park campus itself, where police call volumes fall to well less than 50 percent of their typical numbers. On the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before break, for instance, campus police logged 14, 13 and 13 calls, respectively. On the same days during break, the tallies were six, three and three, respectively.

About seven weeks remain in the spring semester before Penn State commencement events in May. The university’s spring break for the 2012-13 academic year is scheduled for March 3 to March 9.

Related coverage

• StateCollege.com’s Penn State news page