By: Hayley Chazan

Recent University of Ottawa graduate Dahlia Seligman says she discovered a way to avoid paying, what she says, are the campus’ exorbitant parking costs – she simply parked illegally.

“When I tallied the cost of my multiple parking tickets at the end of each school year; I was really happy to see that I had still paid significantly less than I would have if I had purchased a parking permit from the university,” she said.

This may explain, in part, an epidemic of parking tickets plaguing the University of Ottawa campus.

According to an analysis of parking ticket data obtained from the City of Ottawa through a freedom of information request, the university has issued over 30,000 parking tickets since 2012 amounting to almost $2 million in fines. Unauthorized parking on private property, which includes a variety of infractions such as expired meters and the failure to display a permit, was the most common reason people were ticketed. Twenty percent of the infractions over the last four years occurred at an outdoor parking lot on 90 University Road, directly adjacent to the school’s residences.

The grounds surrounding the University of Ottawa are considered by the city to be private property. This means that the university is responsible for overseeing all campus parking lots and garages. The patrol officers are also in charge of establishing regulations and ensuring that they are respected.

Francine Faubert, Customer Service Manager of the Parking and Sustainable Transportation Division at the University of Ottawa, leads a team of eight enforcement officers along with a few part-time students, who patrol the campus’ lots and garages seven days a week. All patrol officers are deputized by the City of Ottawa and are able to issue City of Ottawa parking tickets on university property.

At Ottawa U, parking comes at a cost. Those who drive to campus daily often purchase a monthly or annual parking permit. The cost of a permit for the academic year varies depending on whether students opt to park in a lot outdoors or in one of the indoor garages. An outdoor permit valid from September to April costs $766, while an indoor parking garage permit for the same time frame costs $1,137. Eight of Ottawa U’s 14 parking lots are specifically reserved for permit holders only.

For occasional visitors, temporary parking can be purchased for $4.50 per hour at the remaining six lots that have “pay and display” machines.

The University of Ottawa has 14 parking lots on its main campus. The purples polygons are indoor parking garages. The green ones are outdoor parking lots. 
Source: University of Ottawa website

Khizer Pervez, a University of Ottawa graduate, said that for many students on a tight budget, purchasing a parking permit is simply too expensive. To make matters worse, he said that the campus parking lots reserved for visitors are almost always full.

As a result, he  said he would normally park on the side streets surrounding campus that offered one to three hours of free parking.

“The good thing about this is that if you only have one class, you can normally go without paying,” he said. “The downside is that these spots also tend to get busy, and you have to plan to arrive at least a half hour before your class so you can have enough time to find a space.”

Faubert claims that this is not the case.

“There is no lack of parking space on campus and everyone who applies for a parking permit is offered parking,” she said.

But some students say that this is not enough. Seligman believes that until the university makes it affordable for students to park, and until they create enough spots, people will continue to park illegally.