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Staff parking fees to be harmonized with student rates

June 3, 2015 — 

Effective September 1, 2015, staff monthly parking fees will match student rates of $68.25 per month (tax included).

The new rate is equal to the monthly cost of a student parking permit and still considerably less than a monthly transit pass. Parking Services at the U of M is funded solely through the collection of parking fees. Its mandate is to meet the transportation needs of the university community by providing environmentally sustainable, innovative and professionally-managed parking and transportation options.

Working closely with the Office of Sustainability, Parking Services is committed to make improvements while supporting a sustainable transportation mandate. It is a member of carpool.ca, a free online ride-matching service, has implemented carpool parking stalls in U and Q lot and donated space for the bicycle parking station in the Fort Garry Parkade.

“There are many reasons to choose sustainable transportation options such as transit, busing, biking, walking or carpooling — health, economics, the environment — and the University continues to support staff who choose one of these options,” says Ian Hall, director of the Office of Sustainability. The Office of Sustainability also offers assistance such as travel planning, recent bike parking improvements and carpool parking spots.

Hall invites drivers to join the many other who use alternate methods of transportation to get to work.

Parking Services has committed to help fund other green initiatives such as:

  • Electric vehicle charging infrastructure
  • Increased alternative transportation parking options such as more carpool stalls and car sharing
  • Improvements to the UMSU bicycle shop

Parking Services is also investing in developments to increase accessibility and convenience for the University community with initiatives such as:

  • Mobile payment application
  • New eBusiness website for customer payments and monthly parking profile updates
  • Development of new parking infrastructure

The new rates will contribute to improving the levels of service already offered and to supporting the University’s goals of offering an exceptional workplace, supporting wellness and advancing sustainable development.

The fee increase will apply only to staff and not to faculty, which has negotiated parking fee rates in the UMFA contract.

For more, see www.umanitoba.ca/parking

Questions and concerns may be directed to staffparking [at] umanitoba [dot] ca

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10 comments on “Staff parking fees to be harmonized with student rates

  1. Thomas Quinlan

    “There are many reasons to choose sustainable transportation options such as transit, busing, biking, walking or carpooling — health, economics, the environment — and the University continues to support staff who choose one of these options,” says Ian Hall, director of the Office of Sustainability. So, the U of M will be establishing the EcoPass service with Winnipeg Transit, or is it already available to staff? Thanks.

  2. Javier Mignone

    The director of the Office of Sustainability is quoted in the article as saying that “There are many reasons to choose sustainable transportation options such as transit, busing, biking, walking or carpooling… and the University continues to support staff who choose one of these options.” How is the university actually supporting staff who choose transit?

  3. Tom

    The increase from $612 to $819 (12 x 68.25)is a 33.8% increase.

    If this is right this seems like a very large increase for staff that are generally paid the lowest wages on campus.

  4. Donna Mamott

    I would like to know how the University is supporting staff who choose public transit (paragraph 3). Staff receive no discount for using public transit, the “green” alternative. The article definitely encourages transportation via car by stating that the parking permit costs considerably less than the transit pass.

  5. DW

    1. The University could have saved a lot of money by having the N-lot border patrol manning the station the first 3 weeks of the various academic sessions instead of making him freeze in 40 below all winter long. #FELTSORRYFORTHEGUY
    2. The staff parking increase does not apply to members of UMFA, who make more money than the non-UMFA staff. #UNFAIR
    3. We are funding improvement to the UNSU bicycle shop when clearly we are not the ones using it. Same goes for the bicycle parking station in the Parkade.
    4. Not everyone has the option of cycling to work: some have to drive their kids to different areas of the city and need to use a car in order to be to work on time.
    5. This may be less than a transit pass, but unlike the transit pass, we cannot use it as a tax deduction on our tax return.
    6. We are already having to move out of our parking spots whenever there is a football game and whenever our lot is needed for other things. When this happens some of us have to ask our retired partners to drive us to work because there again is no time to bus it to work, so in addition to paying our parking we are spending twice as much on gas to go to and from work.

    I love my job and have no choice but to pay, but I still feel unfairly treated.

  6. Gregg

    “The new rates will contribute to improving the levels of service already offered…”

    What levels of service? It’s cement. How do you improve cement?

    I’m skeptical Parking Services actually “supports” people to not park on their lots since that’s how they make money. So stop saying meaningless stuff. Just say, we want to make more money because money is money.

    AESES, where are you?

    And I agree with DW. Thanks DW.

  7. Ian Hall

    Here are some of the ways the University supports staff and students who choose Transit for their travels:
    1. Integration of real-time arrivals/departures into the UM mobile app
    2. UM contributes to operation costs to enhance service frequency of the City’s 36 Super Express route which connects Fort Garry and Bannatyne campuses
    3. UM staff/students are supported to, when appropriate, use Transit for business travel (office managers can supply staff with bus tickets to go to meetings)
    4. The University actively works with Winnipeg Transit to coordinate service improvements and stop upgrades – including heated shelters and arrival time displays
    5. Promotion and encouragement through events like the Commuter Challenge
    6. Route planning support during on-campus events such as Orientation Days and through the Office of Sustainability
    7. (Not UM Admin, but…) UMSU offers a convenient sales outlet for Transit passes and tickets
    8. As well, several collective agreements include provisions for flexible scheduling that can help employees have more choices for how they get to work (e.g. start 15 minutes earlier to synch your work day with the bus schedule)
    9. Planning for campus development that supports a ‘destination’ campus that offers services and amenities (including living opportunities) in walkable proximity to reduce the need for a car on campus

    With over 12,000 people arriving by Transit on a busy day (versus about 6,400 parking spots total), we know the bus is an attractive option for many, and are continuing to explore ways to make it work for more people.

  8. Brenda

    $68.25 a month?!! An increase of almost 35% in one year? With a 0% increase in pay? How is this even remotely reasonable? Fee increase does not apply to faculty just to the much lower paid staff – wow. Just wow.

  9. Will Christie

    If students pay a higher fee isn’t that because their lots typically only have high usage during 67% of the year (and during the months that would require more service as well)? Will staff only be paying for eight months of the year at the new rate?

    If not, then what are the current expenditures of Parking Services that requires their funding levels to be raised over thirty percent in one year?

    Can Parking Services provide details on where the additional $1,000,000.00 in revenues (approximated) will be allocated to improve services?

  10. Cathy

    Would be nice if the monthly rate was the same for all groups — Faculty, Support Staff and Students. All groups receive the same product – access to a parking stall. One Union group (UMFA) should not be given special privileges/pricing. They already get special treatment as they are never put on a waitlist for a parking pass. Some Support Staff at Bannatyne Campus have waited years to get parking permits.

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