I Have Questions About Parking

I’m somewhat of a parking pirate. I sail around between the Agora and the ATAC and everywhere in between strategizing where I can park and not get a pesky, expensive fine. Sure, sometimes I pay the meter by the Agora building but that is only when I have spare change and I’m in a rush, since most of the time one can get away with not paying, at least, that is what used to be the case. Recently, more and more of my peers have been struck with parking fines after the dastardly security guards see no parking pass on their mirrors, this is after a few years of not really enforcing parking passes and rules, or the good old times as I call them. 

$373 for parking in Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada

But, this string of incidents sparked a question in my mind, just what is the point of paying for parking? A yearly parking pass for the Thunder Bay campus is at most, a luxurious $373, no you do not need to get your eyes checked. $373 for parking in Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada. If your goal is to be robbed, then you're welcome, as I have sourced the perfect racket for you.

For the rest of us, however, there are some unanswered questions. Where does all this money go? Clearly, we do not have some state-of-the-art parking lot with Tesla charging stations and smooth, obsidian asphalt. No, we have a pale gray ocean-floor textured parking lot that has been around since your mother took her poli-sci classes in 1991. 

The natural argument against my rage is obviously, “Owning a vehicle is a luxury and a privilege, many students are not so lucky”. I agree with your sentiment dear reader. However, since this is an institution we are talking about and an institution in which the vast majority of parking lot users are students who have to be there for classes, it seems monopolistic to charge at minimum $235.40 per year to park somewhere you are paying to be already. But, at the end of the day if you're going to make anyone spend a bunch of money for no reason, let it be students. Students have too much money as it is, so why not pass the costs to them?