Parking prices on the rise again

By Morgan Haigler

It won’t be long until students cough up even more loose change for parking at the University of Calgary.

Starting May 1, students could pay a flat rate of $4 to $6 per day if the Board of Governors approve a parking rate increase. This compares to $3.50 to $6 students currently spend on daily parking.

According to parking and traffic services director Susan Austen, parking rates could increase for meter lots as well. Right now, prices range from $3 to $12 an hour and will likely reach a maximum of $18 an hour.

Austen believes that the increase of daily parking is still gen- erally affordable.

“The rates are still market-driven,” she said. “We do lots of surveys before we make these changes and they’re still within reasonable price [ranges] for people.”

However, some U of C students are expressing a different opinion.

“It would really suck because it adds up, especially in the winter time when it gets cold and you want to park closer to school,” said Pablo Garcia, a fourth-year kinesiology student. “I would say it would make things a little [tighter] financially because sometimes you could spend that on other things.”

Parking permits are also increasing in cost. Students, faculty and staff will pay $50 in the spring and $100 in the summer to park at McMahon Stadium starting in May. For each month it will cost $80 for surface lots with plug-ins or proximity, $74 for surface lots without plug-ins or proximity, $107 for the Art Parkade and $122 for the MacEwan Hall Parkade, starting in June.

Although these figures seem high to some, Austen thinks students can rely on other modes of transportation or student U-Passes, which cost $80 for an entire semester and are automatically added to tuition fees.