Southern California → WTF! Pay for parking

Get this,
I just received an email from our head security guy here at Caltech and he says that we will have to pay a monthly fee to park in the schools parking lot. This really blows!!!

WTF! I work here. I shouldn't have to pay to park. I'm making money for this damn institution! I came here to make money, not pay money.

Here's the pay structure:
FY2006 PARKING FEE STRUCTURE

1. Named Reserved $70.00 per month
(Professorial faculty, emeriti, and qualified senior staff members.)

2. Commuter $35.00 per month
(All persons coming to campus on a daily basis who do not have a
reserved space.)

3. Students $35.00 per month
(Students residing in Caltech-provided housing. Effective January 1, 2006.)

4. Carpool $30.00 per month
(Two or more persons commuting to campus in the same vehicle. The
$30.00 will be divided among the carpool participants.)

5. Daily permit $1.00 per hour
(to a maximum of $5.00 per day)

(Also for commuters who opt not to register for parking and
occasionally drive to campus.)

so at $35 a month that breaks down to $420 a year! That's a nice chunk of change.
Damn, this sucks!

Looks like ill be playing dodge'm with the city of Pasadena parking patrol with their 2 hour street time limit

Be glad you don't work in downtown LA. Some of the outdoor lots there can cost you $20/day.

- FM

I know, it blows. I know a company in Pasadena that has a parking garage, and they charge the employees to park there as well. Plus they recently opened it up as pay garage for people who shop on Colorado Blvd...

How much does it cost to take the metro from LBC to Pasadena?

Regular Fares
$1.35 One-Way
$ .90 One-Way (via Discount Token)
$2.70 Round Trip
$ .25 Transfer to Metro Bus or Rail

Senior/Handicapped Fares
$ .45 One-Way
$ .90 Round Trip
$ .10 Transfer to Metro Bus or Rail

and I thought 98 a semester that they just started charging at csulb was bad...

Sucks to be you, dude. Good luck fighting city hall. You'll need it.

Does this apply to Lucy?

Universities are notorious for gouging their employees for parking. I'm surprised the Caltech waited so long, but it has a much better reputation than any other school. I've been at several major universities and that's been standard for more than 20 years.

Oh, and those are cheap prices.

Any discounts for motorcycles?

Yes, but working in LA or in any of the offices in these big metropolitan cities where the parking lot property is not owned by your employer, i can understand that they charge for parking because it is a parking company. This here is Caltech property and they own the parking structure. Oh and BTW, they just opened up a new underground parking structure last month. They say that have to pay for it somehow.

As for taking the Metro, I've already looked into that months ago because of my commute from Long Beach. If i took the metro it would take (if i recall correctly) aprox.. 2.3 hrs to get from LB to one of the stations in Pasadena, and then i would have to find transportation from the station to the campus.

Not sure about the motorcycles. I think they are free seeing how you can take them on campus (I think)

Does this apply to Lucy at the USGS?? well, that's a question that i asked some of my work mates. I said that since they are government employees and they park on campus property, are they gonna be exempt?? Who knows.

As for now, I have been parking on the street for the past few months and i will continue to park on the street. However, when other people decide to try to on the street and not pay this fee then there we'll be fighting for the 2hr free parking on the streets. And i know this is gonna happen.

Ah, I have a secret parking place that costs me just $3.00 per evening. I only go twice a week, so its cheaper than buying a permit.

Of course, by the time we get back on campus, the fee will probably be $6.00

So every 2 hours you're leaving your office to reposition your car?

And they're building a new structure now at CSULB, so parking will be even more fun next semester...

The project is going to take 13 months and it just started this June. For that whole time 1 whole section of the current lot of Palo Verde will be closed

They said they needed to raise the parking prices to $98, starting last semester, to pay for the new structure.

I guarantee you that once the construction expenditure is met, they won't lower the rate any. There's no such thing as a temporary tax, usually.

And of course, they close the cheapest lot where most of the commuters park.

You know what is REALLY annoying at that school? Take a Saturday class, and 98% of the lots are empty. But no one can park in more than half of them.

Who are they reserving all of those spaces for on the weekends?

Or... Saturday students get bumped from parking for special events that are going on.

The students are always last...

Yes, every 2 hrs. I work in the shockwave lab where there are no windows or doors to the outside world. It's 2 stories underground. So...I like to get fresh air on my 2 breaks and lunch time. The meter maid rarely comes to the areas where i park for some reason.

Something tells me they will now.

Get yourself one of those bright boots for your tire and install it when you park. Maybe the man will leave you alone. Or maybe they'll just tow it, but at least you won't have to pay for parking.

ummm, i'll check in here and give you UCSB parking rates. $410 annual which doesnt grant you a spot, only lets you park on campus in the lowliest dedicated spots (far walks from any classes) - prices go up from there if you are even elligible to park closer (you have to live further away).

anyone who parks at USC has to pay for their parking, and it's minimum $261/semester to park on campus. even motorcycles are 118/year. summer semester is somewhat cheaper, but not less than about $60/month.

get a motorcycle and park on campus or in the lobby of your work building.

you can deduct the expense, by the way.

Yep, under non-reimbursed employee business expenses.

Let's see... parking...

While I lived in Boston, I paid $300/mo for my spot. That was cheap for an underground spot. Many people I know paid that for a tandem spot outside. Spots SELL for $80k+ and are usually deeded separately from the condos they go with.

I pay $30/mo now to park at an office building in Irvine. I used to pay $75/mo in Century City, $50/mo at a building near South Coast Plaza. All these were/are subsidized by my companies.

It's just one of the costs of having a car.