It’s something that drivers will do multiple times of day: park their cars. A lot of times, it costs money to park. Where does that money go? How much does parking cost to maintain?
Fanshawe College
Fanshawe College’s main campus is big. Aside from it being a large building that holds tens of thousands of people on a given day, it’s surrounded by parking everywhere. Between the 12 lots on the main campus, there are roughly 2,900 parking spots. Many are reserved for staff and students who have a parking pass. Some lots are for a short stay where it’s three dollars an hour. And two lots have the option of a five-dollar one-time entry.
Fanshawe’s parking manager, Marion Dietze, says that the school will make around $5,000 per day off of admittance fees and fines for violations. Over the course of an eight-month academic year, that totals around $750,000. Through 12 months, it would be closer to $1 million.
The college has a $2-million budget for parking. There are eight to 10 employees that work within parking services. “Snow itself is around $900,000, a million dollars just to operate the snow removal services here at the college for the different facilities,” says Dietze.
The college also revamped the system for the five-dollar entry lots. They have made it so that people can simply tap their debit, credit or student cars to pay the fee. Before, it would only accept loonies and toonies for the five-dollar fee.
“We almost spent a million dollars in creating that system in the past year,” explains Dietze on the revamp. “The students enjoy it and works very well for them to be on plastic.”
Western University
Western University’s parking runs similarly to Fanshawe’s. They have over 20 lots, which some are reserved exclusively for those who have a purchased parking pass. Rates to park at Western cost three dollars an hour for a maximum of $18 per day. There is no five-dollar one-time entry as there is in Fanshawe.
A majority of the parking is reserved for staff and faculty. Very little is intended for students. For the select students who are able to purchase a parking pass, it costs over $2,000 for the year. That is, if they are able to get one in the first hour they are available for sale, as they sell out almost immediately every year.
For a student like Rebecca Marlene, she has to drive to school as she is too far from the campus to justify bussing. “I park maybe 30 minutes away from campus and just walk. Which sucks in the middle of winter,” she explains. Marlene also has to move her car every two hours so to not get a ticket for exceeding the two-hour bylaw.
The City of London
Courtesy: Impark
The municipality runs close to 3,000 parking spots in the city. That includes all the downtown lots and street parking. The parking budget for London’s parking is about $5-million. The revenue generated from fees and infractions creates a $3-million net revenue. That’s money that will be put back into the city.
The challenges with running the city’s lots are the same as at Fanshawe. “Snow removal. We try to keep our lots free of snow. Keep them safe and keep them salted,” explains Stephen Miller, London’s Manager of Parking. He says snow removal costs the city close to $900,000 per year.
The Takeaway
Charging for parking is a necessary evil. It’s a way to generate revenue with empty space. It’s also essential for there to be parking available so those who drive can be accommodated.
At the end of the day, it’s another expense in the overall investment of driving. Gas, insurance, and repairs make driving a costly activity. Parking is just another expenditure that must be considered.
