Burlap Sack: Parking on campus

Every morning I look forward to the delightful experience of parking in the most expensive, overcrowded, and inconvenient parkades in Edmonton. And every morning I have to fight against the urge to just park in the middle of Main Quad.

People have been venting their grievances with the circus that is the University of Alberta’s parking since the dawn of time on the ancient r/uAlberta Reddit. All of which has fallen on deaf ears. Until now — we must take a stand against the predatory U of A parking system! 

First off, genuinely why does parking cost so much for students? We already pay an arm and a leg for tuition and textbooks. On top of that, the U of A wants more money from us? Universities should not be run like mega-corporations. Rather, administration should aim to foster an environment where students feel welcome—and not just for the money they cough up.

If the university wants to show it cares about students, one way to do so would be to remove boundaries they face while seeking an education. Or at the very least, not fine the living hell out of them. Surely the university gets enough money to make parking free or at least less astronomically expensive for students.

Secondly, where exactly is this money going? Because last time I checked, it’s not like the school has to pay rent for the parkades, which it owns. It only has to pay property taxes. Plus the parkades are dirty, relatively inaccessible, prone to break-ins, and are disgustingly unheated. If that money is going to upkeep, it’s clearly for a parkade I’ve never been to.

Why should we pay hundreds of dollars to park in a glorified Whyte Avenue back alley? Actually on second thought, it would probably be safer and more convenient to just park in a back alley. 

Before you say “just take the bus, quit complaining!” many people do not live in areas that have public transportation. Many cannot take transit for health or accessibility reasons. Some just don’t want to deal with the often late and often overcrowded buses that make up most of Edmonton Transit System (ETS).

Oh well. The university is probably not going to address any of these problems, so I’ll see you all tomorrow morning when we battle it out for the last spot.