UNB: Unavailable Parking and the Missing Motivation to learn

By: Joel Rumson 

As students begin returning to campus, it is the epitome of the university. The packing of personal belongings, assisting in the realization of what is and what isn’t needed on the new path that is university. You and your parents finally get all the moving done, setting the final cardboard box down on the floor almost as if it is signalling a partial victory. Now the real work starts, now this is when your sacrifices pay off. That is… if you can find a spot to park. 

With the commencement of university classes, the flux of students onto the roads has resulted in parking problems that are not so positively affecting the entire campus. 

A UNBF student addressed the concerns of their own, and many other UNBF Students via Facebook. Their post began with “Dear University of New Brunswick,” and went on to explain their experience in trying to find a parking spot before class. 

They began describing the ‘Horrendous parking situation’ by questioning their purchase of $150 for a parking pass, exclaiming that they had missed their class due to the UNBF’s ever-so-lacking accessible parking. 

To give some background, differing parking permits have differing functions and costs associated with the specific pass needed. At UNB Fredericton, faculty and staff parking passes cost $307 for three terms, $257 for 10 months, $142 for two terms (part-time) and $46 for a monthly pass. For students, a three-term permit is $201, a 10-month permit is $168, a two-term permit (most common) is $136, and finally, the term permit costs $94.

The UNBF student posted, “I drove around the entire campus for 30 minutes, going to each parking lot four or five times. Staff, students, and general parking were all full each time I went to check. I could not ever park on the sides of the parking grass because even that space was full. Every single free space that was on the campus, whether it was a real space or not, was full each time I checked.” 

One commenter questioned the legitimacy behind the desire to learn from each student. Explaining that if one could not find a spot to park their car on campus, then obviously the will to learn is not there. While in some cases this may be minutely true, it seems rather unfair to judge another student’s desire to learn and willingness to work hard simply based on their ability to find a parking spot on a busy UNB campus. 

With the complaints piling up, many alumni also agreed with the post stating how the parking situation hasn’t changed in 15 years, and that they had experienced a similar situation many years prior – alluding to the fact that UNB has not made efforts to solve a 15-year-old problem.  

“This was an issue in 2004-2005 when I was at UNB — not a thing has changed, except the drastic INCREASE in the price for the pass….” One alum said. 

Another alum commented, “I went from 2004-06. It was just as bad. Sad to read that almost 20 years have passed and it still hasn’t changed much.”. 

As students fight for their privilege to park, they are left with little to no choice and are coming up with some creative parking ideas. Parking on hills, in staff areas, on security parking, and even designated electric vehicle parking spots. 

There are 10 different parking types on the UNB campus: General Parking, resident/student parking, staff/faculty parking, service parking, visitor parking, accessible parking, stork parking, privilege parking, and reserved parking. 

Students with a parking pass can park either in general parking, student parking, and staff parking anytime after 4 pm. 

The enforcement of particular regulations is the responsibility of the UNB Security and Traffic Department. Where they have full jurisdiction to regulate the flow of traffic, stop motor vehicles suspected of violations of regulations, to require the production of a driver’s license, vehicle permit, or proof of insurance. 

UNB Security takes all other reasonable and necessary measures to enforce these regulations. Oddly, in Moncton, the Nursing campus, the Dean of Nursing assigns staff for the issuance of violations relating to regulations towards the Moncton site. 

As the parking lots continue to fill past their capacity, UNB is encouraging students to look for other alternatives to getting to campus. In a recent survey, UNB asked students multiple questions aiming to better understand the student perspective. In this survey, ideas like taking a bus, carpooling, and taking a taxi to school had been mentioned. 

One commenter on the original post contributed saying “Boo hoo. Maybe the students should try the bus more”

Although these alternatives seem helpful, in most cases, students cannot afford to take a taxi to class, especially when they have their car. Some students have reported spending an hour or more waiting for, or on a bus. 

Let’s do some math. For your 8:30 am class, you would have to be ready at the bus stop for 7:30 am, not to mention having to wake up at least half an hour before, which puts you at 7:00 am wakeup (at the earliest). Of course, it is doable, but when you have the option to drive your car and arrive in 10-15 minutes, leaving hours before you need to just make it on the bus doesn’t seem too appealing, nor does it make very much sense. Although possible, it is not very plausible. 

There are many ways a student can arrive at school without driving themselves. One could bike, carpool, take the bus, walk, use UNB Saferide, or they could even take a taxi. 

UNB could improve the shuttling of students from less congested parking areas to campus drop-off points, create increased parking areas, expand the range in which UNB Safe Ride can travel and many more. 

Currently, little has been done to resolve the lack of parking and the point of the matter is that when a student gets accepted to university, they come to learn and to get a degree. 

Students do not attend university to play a game of ‘who can come the earliest’, nor do they come to play the game of ‘what is the tightest space I can fit my car in’. They do not come so they have to take a one-hour bus ride, not to bike, not to carpool, not to take Safe Ride, they come to learn and get a degree. 

For now, and seemingly in the future, students will keep parking, wherever their car can fit.

• https://www.unb.ca/fredericton/security/parking/regulations.html\
• (https://www.unb.ca/fredericton/security/parking/fees.html) 

Printed 2023