Teleportation and other things that would make commuting easier

If you spend any time on the east side of campus, you know how beautiful it is. The east side of campus makes me feel like I’ve been transported back in time…that I’m a student of a bygone age. Everything about this side of campus is old. There are advantages and disadvantages to the east side. The advantages are less tangible; it’s more of a vibe that permeates the place. It’s the feeling you get when you look out the leaded glass windows during class to stare at an ivy covered wall. But there are a lot of disadvantages to the east side, for example, the washrooms are miniscule, most of the classrooms lack the technological advances that the west side classrooms have, and there is an absence of parking lots. This last one really gets me. I’m all about cycling and public transit; see my previous posts for verification. However, this year I was faced with a dilemma. I have children that I need to pick up from school daily, so my only option was to drive or teleport. Since I haven’t perfected teleportation yet, I drive every day. Before this year I always relied on public transit and my bike to get to and from school, but this year I became one of the hated drivers. What shocked me as I planned out my schedule in August was that there is only one small (private) parking spot for the entire east side of campus (check out the parking layer on the U of T map to view the unequal distribution of parking lots on campus). This lot, located on St. Joseph St., has a flat rate of $12.25. If you happen to have only have an hour of class and need to drive, then you are forced to park on Queens Park, in one of the 10 to 15 street spaces. Out of necessity I now arrive early for class each day to stalk out a parking spot and pounce on it when the opportunity arises. It’s a huge waste of time. Hopefully, you don’t have to drive to campus and deal with the stress of parking. If you do commute by car and have been thinking about trying public transit, now is the time! The Go Transit Student ID Card is now available at the Tcard Office in Robart’s Library. The process of getting one of these passes used to be long and arduous, but now it’s less painful, so it might be a good time to try transit out. I know that sometimes driving is the only option when you are crunched for time. I’m thinking about buying a scooter…at least the parking would be free! -Lori

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