“There will be an allocation of spaces made specifically available to Guelph-Humber student permit holders, who would access the garage with an access card.” Irvine said.
The parking garage, which is scheduled to open by fall 2018, will house approximately 1,000 spaces. Irvine estimates that the number of parking spots that will be allocated to Guelph-Humber permit holders will equal the number of spots that were lost in the removal of parking lot 3A where students used to park – approximately 160.
The rest of the parking spaces will be for visitors and students from both Humber College and Guelph-Humber and will operate on a first-come, first-serve basis. Drivers will be able to pay for daily parking through pay stations that will be placed in the garage, as well as in the lobbies of Humber and Guelph-Humber. The amount of money it will cost for daily parking and yearly parking permits is still undetermined.
While the parking garage boasts a 1,000-space capacity, when taking into account the loss of parking lots 2 and 3A – which were removed to facilitate the construction of the garage and the Centre for Technology Innovation (CTI) – the garage will only have a net gain of around 300 parking spaces across campus.
Still, any additional parking space will come as a relief to student drivers – many of whom have struggled to find parking all semester.
“Parking has been an issue since they’ve started construction,” fourth year justice studies student Nicholas Ram said, referring to the construction on the parking garage and the CTI. “There’s been occasions where I’ve just given up and went home because there was no parking on campus.”
The construction projects on campus have resulted in the permanent closures of lots 2 and the 3A. Humber and Guelph-Humber faculty, who used to park in lot 2, now park in lot 4 – limiting the amount of available parking space even further.
“Lot 3 is so much smaller than it was,” third year justice studies student Shohaan Thimothee Antony said. “Having paid over $500 for it and not finding parking is irritating.”
According to Irvine, while the parking garage should help alleviate parking congestion on campus, insufficient parking is just something drivers have to live with at Humber and Guelph-Humber.
“There will never be enough parking space to meet demand,” he said. “It’s just a fact of life at many universities and colleges.”
Irvine believes that the most realistic solution for the overwhelming parking demand is for students to consider ride sharing or using public transportation to travel to school. “We’re well served,” he said. “We have four different transit agencies that come in here because of where we are geographically located.”
