Campus car parking prices set to increase from 1 October

Parking prices at car parks across the University of Warwick’s campus are set to increase from the 1 October.

Currently, to park at car parks on a weekday from 6am to 6pm it costs £1.20 for up to two hours, £2.40 for up to four hours and £5.00 for the whole day.

From the start of next month, the rates at General Pay and Display car parks will increase to £1.30 for up to two hours, £2 for up to three hours and £2.60 for up to four hours. The all-day parking charge will increase to £5.50.

A £2.00 charge for parking after 6pm will be introduced in General, Short stay and Restricted car parks. Parking after 6pm on campus is currently free.

Parking at weekends and bank holidays will also no longer be free from 1 October as an all-day parking ticket costing £2.80 is set to be introduced.

Short stay car parks will also have a rate of £2.00 for up to three hours. Further charges at Reserved Visitor car parks will also apply which are detailed on the University’s website.

All charges exclude the Sports Hub car park, which operates on an alternative tariff.

Parking at weekends and bank holidays will also no longer be free from 1 October as an all-day parking ticket costing £2.80 is set to be introduced

 

In addition, the price of ‘Flexi-Pay’ scratch cards will increase from £50 to £55 for a book of 10 scratch cards. The scratch cards can still be purchased with an Eating at Warwick card, which reduces the price of the scratch cards by 10%.

Until the 30 September, ‘Flexi-Pay’ scratch cards are available to use in all Pay and Display car parks on campus. After 1 October they will only be valid in General car parks and additional parking areas marked ‘F’ at Gibbet Hill campus.

A student who will be driving to university and using on-campus parking in the coming academic year told The Boar that the price increase is “unfair for students as there are already so many costs involved in university life”.

Scott Eburne, a committee member of the athletics club Godiva Harriers which uses the facilities at the University said that the new prices meant he would be “down £560 to £600 plus a year”.

He told The Coventry Telegraph: “We have a good relationship with university but I feel like these charges are targeting people like us, from the local community, who have used the facilities on campus for years and years.

“If they spoke to us before announcing it, and maybe offered us some annual parking passes it wouldn’t have seemed so bad.

The new charges are in line with the evening charges that have applied for many years in car parks in Coventry and Leamington

– The University of Warwick

 

“Volunteers who will be out of pocket and it will put people off coming down to the track – it seems ridiculous.”

The University told The Boar: “We have tried to keep evening and weekend parking on campus free for as many years as possible but sadly this is no longer sustainable as we still have costs to create and maintain those car parks and parking systems and pay the parking and security staff who help operate them.

“The new charges are in line with the evening charges that have applied for many years in car parks in Coventry and Leamington, and the new campus Saturday parking charges are in fact lower than many of the Saturday long stay (3 hours and above) car parks in those same locations.

“Income from car parking also subsidises sustainable transport on and to the campus including; cycling provision, bus subsidies and shuttle buses.”

Asked about how the new charge after 6pm would affect students with lectures and seminars that run after that time the University commented that “there is no significant change”.

“Even if a lecture started at 6pm students arriving by car obviously would have to arrive and park before that time and last year would have purchased the cheapest available ticket which is for two hours. The price of that two-hour ticket is only increasing by 10 pence in the new academic year,” they said.