Traffic nightmares

By Nicolina Leone

leon0080@algonquincollege.com

It’s not only those who are bus-reliant who have been affected by the strike; car drivers have had struggles of their own.

Graphic design student Milena Hrebacka doesn’t live in town, she lives in Russell.  She’s learned her lesson and no longer takes the Queensway.

“Because of traffic on the highway it takes twice as long to reach Ottawa,” said Hrebacka.  Driving on the highway takes her two hours while the back roads only take her an hour.

Cheryl MacEwen, administrative assistant of athletic operations, hasn’t had a problem with travel.  She stays off the Queensway when coming to work and her daughter walks to her school.  Semir Hadziresic, a student at Algonquin feels the same.  He doesn’t take the Queensway.  The parking is an issue for him.  The park and ride is always full so he risks parking at College Square or treks a little farther to park at the Centrepointe library.

Mechanics student Robert Poulin only leaves 15-20 minutes earlier during high traffic periods to get to school on time, but parking in the Algonquin parking lot is much busier than usual because of the increased number of people driving to school.

Vikta-Paulo Bainomugisha finds problems with both traffic and parking.

“I wake up early to beat traffic,” he said.  “I’ll wake up at 5 a.m. to be here for 8 a.m.”  Bainomugisha has the privilege of using his father’s parking pass, who works at Algonquin, when he is not using it.  But even there he has run into problems.  “Sometimes there’s no parking because of all the other people who have passes,” he said.  When this occurs, he’ll risk parking at College Square.  “I cross my fingers that I won’t get a ticket for a five minute walk.”