Parking Grievance Letter

The CSA's VP External has prepared the attached letter to Vice-Provost Chassels in regards to students' concerns with the current parking situation at U of G.

Read an excerpt of the letter below or download the full letter to read student experiences and thoughts on the issue.

Dear Vice-Provost Chassels,

We are contacting you regarding the parking changes that were made effective May 1st, 2019 by Sustainable Transportation & Parking Services. These changes were an attempt to alleviate parking capacity issues on campus and to encourage sustainable modes of transportation. However, the impact has been very different putting undue stress on our students.

There are up to 23,000 students, and 2,928 staff at the University of Guelph. There are far more students on campus than there are staff and faculty. Sustainable Transportation & Parking Services has allocated 18 parking lots (4,122 parking spots) to staff and faculty, while there are only 7 parking lots (2,108 parking spaces) allocated to students – all of which are also available to staff and faculty permit holders. These changes were made without any student consultation and display a blatant disregard to the needs of our students on campus. 

Effective May 1st, students have been assigned to park in the blue permit areas only, while staff and faculty can park in black and orange permit areas. The blue permit areas include; lots P7, P13, P14, P15, P17, P19, P30, which comprise of roughly 2,108 parking spaces. The orange and black permit areas include; P7(also a student lot), P9, P10, P11, P12, P13 (also a student lot), P14 (also a student lot), P15 (also a student lot), P17 (also a student lot), P18, P19 (also a student lot), P23, P24, P25, P26, P59, P30 (also a student lot), P64, which comprise of up to 4,122 parking spaces. All student lots are available to staff and faculty; however, students cannot park in any of the orange and black permit areas that are available to staff and faculty only. The blue permit areas allocated to students are located at the periphery of campus, meanwhile the black and orange permit areas allocated to staff and faculty are located at the core of campus. This means students have to walk 10 to 15 minutes to get to the central part of campus, while staff and faculty are located much closer. Despite student parking being located in further parking lots, students pay the same parking rates as staff and faculty.

Another focus of these parking changes from Sustainable Transportation & Parking Services is to encourage alternative/sustainable transportation. All University of Guelph students that are taking classes on campus pay a universal bus pass fee each semester, regardless of whether they use it. Approximately 50 percent of all Guelph Transit users are students. Meanwhile staff and faculty are not required to pay a bus pass fee. The students at the University of Guelph are doing their part in finding alternative modes of transportation (such as using transit and paying the universal bus pass fee).

After parking changes made May 1st by Sustainable Transportation & Parking Services were implemented, there has been an online petition requesting the University of Guelph to change their parking system. This petition has collected 1,126 signatures from people in July 2019. Students are experiencing the negative implications of these parking changes and have shared their stories with the Central Student Association. The following stories are grievances from students (undergraduate and graduate).