Mount Royal University Parking is open to all, not just students. The lots are monitored by MRU's parking services to help maintain order in the parking lot, but to also help maintain honesty among its users. The MRU team works with a tow truck to help get rid of cars that break the rules, pictured is the process of identifying and removing a car from MRU's Lot 1 on October 9th, 2025. (Adam Vyse, CMRU.ca)
My two cents for the meter
The MRU parking system has become a rather hot button issue among students and faculty, from in-class room chatter to social media posts on various Reddit forums or MRUchatter on Instagram.
The headaches stem from high hourly rates, cost of UPass, and if purchasing permits guarantees parking.
Taking into account students and faculty will have bills on the side it would be very beneficial for all to have one less financial burden to deal with.
High hourly rates
Aside from the first 15 minutes of parking being free (which you still register your car on the HotSpot app) you will have to pay an hourly rate of $5.25 an hour that caps at $21—meaning after four hours you are paying for an entire day.
In comparison, you could purchase a house beer ($3.50), and main ($7.25) from West Gate Social and it will cost a little more than two hours of parking ($10.50).
In a 13-week semester there are approximately 65 days of classes, excluding any statutory holidays, meaning it will cost $1365 if you park each day over the semester.
Public transportation
MRU attendees are encouraged by the University to take public transit, park off campus, or cycle to campus in order to circumvent paying for parking, but even then it is not possible for every student to take advantage of MRU’s UPass that offers free public transit.
Some students travel from far across the city, or some come from smaller surrounding cities, towns, or communities while still paying $170 a semester for the UPass.
To opt out of UPass students must:
- have been found ineligible for Calgary Transit Access (CTA).
- prove they are not required to attend campus for this term (e.g., fully online program, international exchange, or offsite field placement).
- be legally blind and have a permanent identification card issued by the CNIB which authorizes use of public transportation.
- be currently an employee of Calgary Transit.
Students must meet these requirements, fill out an opt-out form filled out by 4:30 pm ten days after the add/drop deadline of that semester, otherwise they are forced to opt into the pass.
The opt out form can be found on mtroyal.ca.
Again, in context students will pay $1,360 by the end of their four-year degree program or roughly 63.25 full days of parking—there are approximately 65 days in a 13-week semester—now parking may lighten up as the semester goes on and the students drop out, but there is no way to account for that.
Parking permits
Students are also recommended by the school (and if they have dads who attended math camps when they were kids) to purchase parking permits; however, does the university guarantee availability at any time in your permitted lot?
MRU student, Lily Azevedo says that in her opinion they seem to oversell permits, because as a permit holder she has seen her permitted lot full forcing her to relocate to a different lot.
Azevedo says that is a recurring problem and makes her wonder if purchasing a permit was a redundant purchase.
Compared to other institutions around the city
One might think, this is solely an MRU problem, but is this plaguing other post-secondary institutions in the city?
University of Calgary offers a visitor flat rate of $10 for the day, hourly rates of $4 – $6 with caps from $16 – $26, and student permits ranging from $125.00 – $620.00 per semester depending on the lots.
SAIT offers permits for $440 per semester, and uses a 30 minute rate of $1.75.
Meanwhile MRU’s permits are $514.50 – $672.00 per semester, and $449.40 per semester for residence parking passes.
How is Mount Royal Transportation System (MTS) setup
Obviously it must be mentioned that MRU’s parking is set up as a self-sustaining system, meaning students, faculty and users are sustaining the service through paying for parking and tickets.
Essentially, it keeps itself working through the hourly rates and honest individuals paying off their tickets, as MRU Transportation Services (MTS) is their own separate entity from the university and are unable to use tuition and other student fees, by law.
Using social media forums I came across an interesting Reddit comment that explains a potential negative feedback loop MRU parking users face.
The commenter explains that in order for MTS to pay for upgrades and capacity, for example their $12.7 million parkade tab, the expenditure costs are recouped by parking fees, tickets, and other fees.
Once a car has procured two tickets, they are subject to be towed thus making MTS call for tow trucks that are paid out of the revenue—basically if you avoid paying your tickets you then make MTS pay more to enforce the parking lot… which in turn makes them require more revenue to pay the expenditures.
The final twist of the dagger in the side of those who follow the rules and pay for parking—those who do not pay their parking bill are forcing MTS to use revenue that could upgrade capacity to continually enforce the parking lots.
Free parking only works in Monopoly
I am well aware that this blog may read like a student yelling at clouds because what is the alternative, free parking?
Free parking is something that only works in Monopoly (if that) because it would not take long for students to leave cars for hours on end, and potentially non-MRU attendees could abuse said free parking.
I also realize that if a big worry of mine is “do I pay and park at the school, or try to find free parking off campus and walk?” probably means I’m living a pretty privileged life.
More so, parking is not a right and absolutely a privilege.
Student issues with the parking system must be taken with a grain of salt, some are justified and others are nonsensical.
I don’t stand with the people who do not pay for parking, ignore tow warnings, then are surprised when they come out from class and say “dude, where’s my car?”
Furthermore, those who complain about the “no backing into stalls” rule could have some merit, but only if they do not block their license plate.
The meter has expired
I hope by now you realize that there are plenty of elements such as hourly rates, public transportation cost, and parking permit costs that make it expensive for MRU students and faculty to have a car on campus.
I hope you can understand these are not “made up” concerns by a student who wants to complain and rant.
I understand that it is not a right to have parking at university, nor do we need to have a Geneva Convention for parking, but there must be a system that can ease the financial burden of students and faculty.
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