{"id":74492,"date":"2024-02-07T16:44:30","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T23:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=74492"},"modified":"2024-02-12T13:49:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T20:49:25","slug":"sait-students-staff-chase-elusive-parking-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2024\/02\/07\/sait-students-staff-chase-elusive-parking-spots\/","title":{"rendered":"SAIT students and staff chase elusive parking spots"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Searching for spots:<\/strong> SAIT student Ara Nisperos struggles to find parking on the days she drives to campus. (Photo by Faithfulness Oyekanmi\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T<\/span>rying to beat traffic on a Monday morning to school can be hard, overwhelming and stressful.<\/p>\n

Finding parking at SAIT has proven to be a much bigger problem for many SAIT students and instructors this winter semester.<\/p>\n

According to the SAIT website, more than 31,000 students attend SAIT annually<\/a>. These days, parking spots are at a premium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the parking is placed at a very far location, which gets difficult to access and it makes you late,\u201d said instructor Rajani Suthar. \u201cAt times, it is very crowded, cramped and difficult to find parking, especially in the morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a cause of stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

That stress was very evident during the cold snap in January when the temperatures plunged below -35 C.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did notice the cold weather snap certainly added to the vehicles in parking lots on campus,\u201d said Kate Laverdure, a senior communications specialist at SAIT.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudent parking passes were sold out this semester, which isn\u2019t uncommon, and other parking is available on a first-come basis.”<\/p>\n

Many days, finding a parking spot at SAIT can feel like a game of musical chairs played with cars and trucks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parking is just ridiculous,\u201d said SAIT student Blake Dejong. “I’ve been fortunate to find parking, but they do fill up fast. If you have classes around 9 a.m, \u00a0it is impossible to find parking.<\/p>\n

“I notice everyone after me is just piling up at the lot and I try to miss the rush.”<\/p>\n

Depending on what time their classes start, some people can’t avoid the inevitable hunt for a parking spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a bit of an irregular schedule, but when I come some of the lots are always full,” said student Seth Moser. “When you end up finding parking elsewhere, it is in the other parking 10 minutes away,<\/p>\n

“I try to find easy ways to cut through some of the parking gates and stay warm.”<\/p>\n

The daily scramble for spots has students longing for the sold-out parking passes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would recommend that students get the parking passes to avoid not having space and using the permit-only lots,” said student Sean James. “It saved me a bit of money.”<\/p>\n

Given the skyrocketing cost of living, saving money is a major priority for many.<\/p>\n

\u201cParking is expensive,” said student Cedric Respina. “But if I have the parking pass, which is quite hard to get, it will be better.”<\/p>\n

Given the daily parking challenges, some students are trying other methods of transportation for their commute.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding parking is a little bit difficult, and it\u2019s expensive too,” said student Becca Anderson. “To avoid missing important stuff in school, just take transit.”<\/p>\n

You can find more information on available parking and transit here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Limited spaces:<\/strong> SAIT student Pauline Fernandez found a parking spot in the SAIT parking garage. (Photo by Faithfulness Oyekanmi\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding parking at SAIT is a big problem for many SAIT students and instructors this winter semester. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":876,"featured_media":74493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 Parking situation at SAIT FO","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,711,1109,13,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-74492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-city","8":"category-entertainment","9":"category-featured","10":"category-mental-health","11":"category-news","12":"category-campus-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74492"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74779,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74492\/revisions\/74779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}