By Dale Meikle
As an Algonquin Student and a host on CKDJ living off campus, I heavily rely on my car as my means of transportation to and from school; however because of that I have to pay daily for parking.
Parking at Algonquin College varies from lot to lot but I am no stranger to parking in lot 8. For a little backstory here; I do not have a parking pass as they run a little bit out of my budget which I now know is the root of my parking tickets. On average each parking ticket ding runs me around $80-$100 and serious driving offenses such as “Stopping within an Intersection” or “Stopping partly on sidewalk” would run me approximately the same price.
Now like I said, I rely heavily on my car to get me from point A to point B as I live on the other side of Ottawa and I moved here around 3 months ago so I am not familiar with the OC Transpo bus routes, so driving my car to and from school appears to be the only way to go for me. Parking tickets happen, and I know that they are self-inflicted however considering that I pay for parking daily, and parking costs on average around $8 per day, that is $40 a week, which balancing that with money for gas and groceries and all those necessities can be a little challenging at times.
When I stopped parking in lot 8, I would park in the visitor parking behind the P building, however that is one of if not the most expensive lot on campus running $4 and going up by $4 per hour which my classes run around 3 hours at least so that means $12-$18 per day after classes and even longer when I’m on the air, which is even more out of budget for me.
In conclusion, Parking at Algonquin can be a little challenging at times especially when it’s your only means of transportation, however like I’ve stated different lots cost different amounts of money, I would recommend the parking lots in which you need to use the “Honk” app if you do not have a parking pass and commute via car to school, those lots would be lots 1, 10 and 12. As an Algonquin College student and a CKDJ host who spends on average 5-6 hours at school everyday, the visitor parking lot is not always suitable for daily use if you are on a budget.
Services, E. and P. (2024, June 28). Regulations and restrictions. City of Ottawa. https://ottawa.ca/en/parking-roads-and-travel/parking/regulations-and-restrictions#section-4d0650e2-15ba-49cf-89f3-e42292df34a6
Comments