Parking at TRU has been a sore topic for most students at the university. Between the few parking lots and the pricing of parking passes, students aren’t happy with the situation. The school only has 4 parking lots reasonably close to the main buildings, split up as 2 general parking lots, and 2 economy lots. General parking also includes parking for students living on campus. One of the general lots is not paved, which potentially leads to a loss of parking space, depending on how close the cars are parked together. Asking one student, DJ, their thoughts on the parking situation at TRU, they had one thought overall: “Horrible”.
TRU has tried to push students to try alternatives to driving, such as biking or taking public transportation. The problem with alternative transportation such as these is that most students don’t live near enough to the university for these alternatives to be viable. When asked about these alternatives, the two students interviewed said they must arrive at school early to secure a parking spot, and if they took public transportation they would have to leave even earlier to get to school at the same time. DJ said they must get to school by 8 am to get a parking spot for their class at 10 am. Another student, Teegan, brought up the point that if they didn’t get a spot in a general lot, they would have to park in the back of an economy lot and run to class.
Parking spaces in the main lots fill up fast. A lot could be nearly empty around 7:30 am, and by 8 am, the lot is completely full, with students circling the lots hoping for any space. After 8 am, on most days, there will be a lineup of cars waiting to get into the main economy parking lot, Lot N. This lot is the largest on campus, but also the furthest away from any of the main buildings. If a student is unlucky enough to only find a spot at the back of the lot, they are in for a long walk to campus.
There is also an option for premium and reserved parking, but the only way to get these passes is by lottery. The pricing on these spots is over $70/mo. for premium, and $1200/year for reserved parking. Having a premium parking pass also does not guarantee a spot will be available either. While students with premium passes also have access to the general and economy lots, having the option defeats the purpose of having a premium pass in the first place. Pricing on the economy and general lots isn’t much better at ~$50 and ~$60 per month respectively. Paying any of these prices, especially as students are already paying tuition, books, rent, and groceries, among other expenses, puts a strain on students’ financial situations. For international students, the financial burden is even greater. There is a rebate for students outside of public transit areas, but the process for getting the rebate is not very clear. Another point of note about the general lots is that they are also available for day passes. While this is a great idea in theory, in practice it means that those who purchased passes for these lots often lose out on spaces to people who only purchased a day pass. Interestingly, visitor lots only sell parking in half-hour increments. Perhaps the visitor lots should sell day passes as well, surely there are some visitors who may need a whole day of parking. Doing this would relieve at least some of the pressure on the general lots.
Regarding alternative forms of transportation, public transit is generally unreliable early in the morning and later in the evening. This is especially noticeable during the winter months when buses can be delayed due to the weather. There are times when buses will just not show up entirely and students will need to wait until the next potential time a bus is supposed to arrive. This is a huge inconvenience for students who may not have any other choice for transportation and is a topic for another story.
Unfortunately, due to where the university is located, there are not many areas for expansion of parking lots. The alternatives proposed by the university are also unrealistic for most students because they often live further away from school, and those who can drive will not want to take public transportation if they can avoid it. This issue is ongoing, and there needs to be a review of how parking is handled at TRU and potentially revisiting how the lots are organized.
Could have added different photos. They are too similar.
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Instead of: 4 parkings
Use: four parkings
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This comment doesn’t add to the story: Asking one student, DJ, their thoughts on the parking situation at TRU, they had one thought overall: “Horrible”.
The quotes need to be more informative, explanatory, a bit longer.
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About this: TRU has tried to push students to try alternatives to driving, such as biking or taking public transportation.
How’s that? Did they have campaigns? Talk to the people responsible for those campaigns and discuss what were their goals and what they have achieved.
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Remember what I showed in class on how to add interviews.
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About this: “visitor lots only sell parking in half-hour increments.””
Those spaces have a limit of 2 hours parking. And this can be explored more on the story as well.
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When you talk about public transportation, you need to get more information about the buses, their schedule, how many times a day, and how ofter (in numbers) they are delayed. The department responsible for that should have numbers.
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Since you couldn’t talk to anyone at TRU, you could have interviewed a specialist in the area, maybe a professor, to give you a more information and possible solutions.