Like many of you, we have spent time carefully reading the announcement and FAQ about the changes coming to parking services. If you have not read the full announcement on the website, or the FAQ, we encourage you to do that as it may answer some of the questions you undoubtedly have. We encourage you to reach out to strnsprt@uwaterloo.ca with any additional questions.
We want to recognize that the parking fee increase will pose a challenge for some of our members. We also know there is a very real need for the repairs and infrastructure improvements that we’ll be seeing, for accessibility purposes among other reasons. We have encouraged Parking Services to retain more money from fines (which are used to fund scholarships) to cover some of the costs of these changes. We have also asked whether some infrastructure improvements will be covered by capital funds rather than Parking Services operating funds.
We have one seat on the Parking Advisory Committee and have worked hard to advocate for staff interests on this front. We also discussed the concerns we’ve been hearing from members when the changes were presented at Staff Relations Committee last month (March 19). Our focus right now is on securing an adequate salary increase at the Provost's Advisory Committee on Staff Compensation to help alleviate some of the strain of the overall increased cost of living we’re all facing (salary conversations are still ongoing; we hope to have an update for you soon!).
We are happy to see that shuttle service will be increased and look forward to more details. We hope this will help address some of the concerns about possible effects of the parking changes on accessibility and safety.
We will collect member feedback and bring your concerns to the Staff Relations Committee. The best way for you to send us your comments about this is through the Suggestion Box on our website.
Finally, if public transit is an option for you, make sure you’re saving money on that with a GRT Corporate Pass. The pass allows you to save 15% on individual trip fares paid with stored value, as well as on monthly passes.
