Student parking registration moves to Aurora system
Fees increase across the board, including an increase in the toonie lot
ROMER BAUTISTA STAFF
PHOTO BY ERYN MACKENZIE.
Students wondering when they’ll be able to purchase parking passes are no longer in the dark, as the U of M has finally set a date as to when student passes go on sale. The registration system opens on Thursday, July 19 at 1 p.m..
Students interested in purchasing parking passes would be well-informed to know that registration will no longer be done over the phone, as was the case for the past several years. Instead, parking registration will now be done through the Aurora system, the registration system that was introduced last year that made class registration an enjoyable experience all year.
“With the decommissioning of the [U of M’s] mainframe, we were no longer able to offer telephone registration,” said Norma Carswell, manager of parking and shuttle services, in an e-mail to the Manitoban. “Customer feedback indicated the need to provide more online services. Therefore, we are offering a similar online process for the sale of student parking as students have for course registration.”
According to Carswell, the new registration system offers a number of benefits to students. The first is that the system will be accessible at all times, 24 hours a day. The previous phone system was only available during weekdays, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.. The second benefit to the new system is that students will have immediate access to the reservation system, which eliminates the problem of redialing that many students faced in previous years.
One problem that can’t seem to be eliminated is that of rising costs. Student parking passes for the regular session are unofficially priced at $455.80, an increase of $11.75 from last year, according to Carswell.
Students who use the SD parking lot (better known as the toonie lot) on Chancellor Matheson Drive as a cheaper alternative to buying a parking pass will be shocked to find out that there has been an increase in fees for that lot as well.
Parking in the toonie lot will continue to cost $2 for four hours of parking. All-day parking (or anything over four hours’ worth) will now cost $4.
The new rates came into effect as of July 2.
Carswell noted a couple of reasons as to why an increase in the toonie lot was needed. She said that the new revenues will “help subsidize the increasing expense of the shuttle bus service” and will also “help offset the costs for continuing parking lot upgrade and development.”
“[The fee increase will help] subsidize the ongoing upkeep and maintenance costs of the gravel surface in the [toonie] lot — which requires continual gravelling and grading to maintain a satisfactory surface during spring, summer and fall, and to replace the loss of gravel during winter snow plowing,” she said.
For up-to-date information on student parking information, visit the parking office website at www.umanitoba.ca/parking.
