Despite early pushback, the Mount Royal University student community has settled into the school’s increased parking enforcement, now two years after the original announcement.

In 2024, Mount Royal University (MRU) and its Parking and Transportation Services (PTS) announced stricter parking rules, including limiting the ability to back into stalls and the creation of a designated impound lot. The lot, located in Lot A near the school’s soccer fields, gates off 20 previously parkable stalls.

After the decision, some took to social media. One Reddit user wrote that the school swapping parking spots for an impound lot sounded harsh.

Another user, who lives near the school, said that when MRU makes parking a pain for students, they will find other areas to park around, in turn making it tougher for everyone.

In a statement shared with LWC, PTS said the increase in enforcement has alleviated congestion on campus, added parking space availability and helped meet the needs of those who pay for parking. 

“PTS strives to make parking in one of 4,300 spots accessible to everyone visiting the campus on a daily basis,” the school said in a statement.

“MRU is able to accommodate all parkers. This move has increased the availability of parking on campus for both permit and transient parkers who pay for parking. While towing has always been in place at MRU, the campus impound lot means drivers of vehicles that are towed can avoid having to go to the city’s impound lot to retrieve their vehicles.”

Revenues generated by PTS support university programming initiatives and infrastructure repairs, the statement reads.

“These changes have created a more equitable system for those who pay for parking on campus. These practices have resulted in increased efficiency and safety for MRU Parking enforcement staff.”

MRU does relatively well in a flawed system: Student

On campus, students seem to agree with the school’s actions, now nearly two years after the new rule implementation.

Kyle Smith, a student who pays for a semester-long parking pass, said he feels good about the enforcement and impound lot, but has received a warning ticket for backing into a stall.

“I thought it was a little bit of a dumb rule,” he told LWC.

“I think the overall rules are fair. I mean, I’m paying hundreds of bucks, so why shouldn’t everybody else, right?”

According to the school’s parking permits webpage, passes for the fall and winter semesters range from $898.80 to $1,344. Smith said that he doesn’t want to pay the high costs, but doesn’t have a better option. He has no problem with people being towed, when deserved.

A vehicle may be towed for parking in a reserved stall, parking without a license plate, unpaid parking, or parking with two or more unpaid parking tickets 30 days after the date of issuance, among other reasons, according to the school’s website.

To have an impounded vehicle released, the registered owner of the vehicle must fill out and sign the Mount Royal University Impound Vehicle Release Waiver and pay the $200 ticket issued for towing the vehicle as well as any other violation tickets issued on the date of the towing and any daily impound fee tickets issued since the date of the tow.

“The daily impound fee ticket is $15 per day and commences to be issued on the second day of impoundment of the vehicle,” the website reads.

Though vehicle owners are not required to pay all outstanding tickets at the time of release, they must acknowledge that if outstanding tickets are not paid, the vehicle remains at risk of being towed again.

If the vehicle remains in the MRU Impound Lot for 15 consecutive days, the vehicle will be towed by the Calgary Parking Authority to the City of Calgary Impound Lot. All tickets issued prior by MRU will remain on file for the vehicle. 

Violators have the ability to appeal tickets, with instructions listed online.

As of 9:30 Friday morning, the designated impound lot was empty.

Overall transportation needs work: Students’ Association

Tala Abu Hayyaneh, Students’ Association of Mount Royal University (SAMRU) Representation Executive Council President, said that with just over 4,000 spots, parking accommodation for staff, students, and faculty is limited.

“With a student population of more than 15,000, you’re competing with a lot of people to find space. Students have always expressed the issue of lack of availability at their preferred time. MRU has communicated to us as a student association that they do their best to make sure everyone has a spot at their assigned lot. If a student has purchased the permit or paid for parking in a specific lot, they would have the space available to them at that lot,” she told LWC.

“Sometimes there are violators, people who don’t pay for parking, but maybe are taking up a spot in a specific lot, and that’s where MRU has taken the initiative to do more enforcement around that area.”

From a student perspective, Abu Hayyaneh has heard the frustration around enforcement, as students are sensitive to unexpected costs.

“Student sentiment is that prices are increasing all the time for everything, including parking on campus. But the cost that MRU has been able to recover from parking and whatnot has gone towards renovating some of the lots, making sure that they’re well-paved. That was part of our advocacy for the university, is that we wanted to make sure that with the price increasing, that the quality of parking is enhanced,” she said.

The biggest game-changer for MRU students would be a direct train line connecting the school to other parts of the city, Abu Hayyaneh said. As it stands, many students commute via train, then bus.

“As of now, our campus is pretty much disconnected from the rest of the city, whereas other campuses are connected. People frequent these campuses outside of the normal uses, so we want to be more integrated in the community and transit would support a lot of that right now,” she said.

Though they haven’t heard anything concrete from the city, SAMRU continues advocating for better transit options to MRU. Abu Hayyaneh said that with better transit options, students will be able to easily access affordable housing and grocery options, among others.