Parking woes

By Nicole Thompson-Walker

thom0745@algonquincollege.com

Algonquin has developed several strategies to accommodate the extra cars on campus because of the OC Transpo strike.

On Jan. 14, the college released all the parking they had – everyone on the waitlist for a parking pass received one.

In addition, lot counts are done in every lot each morning and late afternoon, to keep track of the amount of space that is available for students. On some days, there are roughly 45 spaces available and on others there will only be 20-25.

Roch Lafond, the manager of Parking and Transportation Services at Algonquin has been very sympathetic towards the needs of both students and staff. There have been numerous requests from students and staff saying that they couldn’t afford to pay the daily fee to park and Lafond was happy to make arrangements for these people.

“If a request is legit, we will do our best to support it,” Lafond said. “But if we were to open the doors to parking, anyone could come park here.”

In addition, two grass areas past lot 12 were ploughed to accommodate even more parking. These areas will provide an additional 120 spaces that the college would sell at a cheaper rate.

Amanda Williams, a first-year student in the general arts and science program, is always worried about finding a parking spot in the morning.

“Parking anywhere fills up so fast,” Williams said. “And it sucks having to park so far away all the time, as opposed to just taking the bus and walking from Baseline station. Especially in this cold weather."

Students are utilizing the extra parking space made available. Robert Poulin, an apprentice at Algonquin College, parks in lot 12 daily.

“Lot 12 is much busier than usual because of the increased number of people driving to school,” Poulin said, “but I have never seen the lot completely full. The parking office has informed me that in the odd event that the lot should happen to be completely full, to call them and they would work something out.”

Parking and Transportation Services recommends to students that they arrive to school by 7:30 a.m. in order to find a parking spot in any of their lots. By 8 a.m., the lot is usually full.