Here's something that really ticks me off the more I hear of the real story. Calgary's downtown is not very parking friendly. But that's on purpose. The City wants you to take public transit to the downtown core and I have to admit - it's not excruciatingly bad getting you there. But outside of the core, relying on transit to get you to work is a bad option when cross-city bus rides could take 2 hours (versus a 30-40 minute drive). So most places provide enough parking spots for their employees to park. Unless you work for Foothills Medical Center. More on this rant in the comments....
This is an exhibition - not a competition. Please...no wagering.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
How do they get away with this?
Here's something that really ticks me off the more I hear of the real story. Calgary's downtown is not very parking friendly. But that's on purpose. The City wants you to take public transit to the downtown core and I have to admit - it's not excruciatingly bad getting you there. But outside of the core, relying on transit to get you to work is a bad option when cross-city bus rides could take 2 hours (versus a 30-40 minute drive). So most places provide enough parking spots for their employees to park. Unless you work for Foothills Medical Center. More on this rant in the comments....
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The Foothills Medical Center (FMC) is seriously deficient on parking spaces. So much so, that at one point there was a 5 year waiting list for new staff to get a parking spot on the premises. Luckily, they built a huge new parking structure, but all that did was reduce the waiting time to 3 years. Meanwhile, people are trying to park in the area surrounding the FMC, but finding more residents getting their streets converted to permit parking during the day. This forces staff to
walk as much as a kilometre or more (uphill) to get to work. Many park illegally anyway, since it's faster to walk 300 metres than 1200. The situation has gotten so bad, that staff are now electing to park in the paid lot next to the FMC
(designed for patients and their visitors) for $10 a day. Unfortunately, because the paid lot is almost full now by 8am, what this does is force patients and visitors to park elsewhere - such as in the surrounding area - in competition with staff trying the same thing. People on the waiting list for parking on the premises, are offered a spot at other locations, such as the University of Calgary. Shuttle buses take them to and from those lots every 30 minutes. The lots are almost 2 kilometres away. The problem - the buses often leave earlier than scheduled, leaving commuters sometimes waiting over 35 minutes before getting between their cars and work. Meanwhile, about 2 kilometres away, the new Children's Hospital is under construction, slated to open this September. The parking lot built for this hospital is already being loaned out for FMC staff. This means when the Childrens' staff move into their new location, they already won't have enough parking spots to go around. Sure, they could build another parking structure, but the building agreement included a moratorium on further development.
It's not me right?
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