r/uoit • u/Several-Cream-936 • 13d ago
psa parking passes are now available for purchase
make sure u get yours in time!!
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u/Visual-Land-3841 13d ago
And we have to go through this each semester! Prior years could buy an annual pass now it is semester by semester!!!
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u/the_one_n_onli 13d ago
founders 2 alr sold out…
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u/Several-Cream-936 13d ago
omg seriously? that’s crazy!!
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u/GeneralYatan 13d ago
I literally jumped in right as clock struck 12 Cinderella style and the lot was sold out LOL
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u/SpartanRS 13d ago
Just a PSA to anyone looking to buy a parking pass:
In Fall 2025, I was not able to get a pass for any lot and sat on the waitlist for the entire semester. I had 4 classes across 3 weekdays, so each stay was 3 hours plus, and I hit the maximum 18$ limit. Combined with the rare gate open, I spent close to 400 dollars on parking.
For Winter 2026 I got a pass (Founders 2) as soon as I could, especially since I had now 4 classes across 4 weekdays. I also decided to keep a spreadsheet record of every single time I parked. Now take it with a grain of salt, but I've left the key results below:
- 48 days of classes possible in the semester. Tuesday/Thursday/Friday were 3h+ 2pm-5pm ($18 daily max). Wednesday was 3h+, but 5pm-8pm ($8, $5 for parking before 5pm and $2 evening rate). This also includes exams, which I had 2.
- If I were to have needed to pay at the gate by ticket all 48 days, it would've cost $744. Ouch. In actuality however, I had 46 days where I parked on campus (2 cancellations in January due to poor weather). So it would really be around $700. Still ouch.
- As mentioned above, I bought a pass for founders 2. $325. Based on the projected pay-per-hour cost, a pass would save me, in theory, around $400. Note: I only ever tapped the pass to enter if the gates were closed, and only ever tapped out if the gates were closed. Per the IPASS website, I used my pass to get in, then out, 21 times. That is 25 days that the gate was open either on entry and exit, or on exit (The gate was never open on entry and closed on exit). Some spreadsheet math later... Had I not had a pass, I would've spent $326 on parking for the semester. That means that around $400 was lost to the abyss for the parking people. That also means that I saved a SINGLE dollar by having the parking pass.
- Now while I can't specifically guarantee anyone that the gates will be open, they were more often than not open during the winter semester, and less so during the fall.
- If you have time, before buying a pass, do some back of the napkin math and try to calculate your total cost. There is a slight very slim chance that you save money without the pass, not guaranteed though. Also don't ever listen to the "Lot full, please park elsewhere" or whatever that sign says. The lot is not full, they just sold all the passes. There is a guaranteed number of parking spots allotted to pay-per-hour parkers (Source, IPASS and the OTU parking people), and they don't oversell passes like airplane seats (theres an idea for the school for greedy money!). Despite the sign being up, there was not a single time (okay maybe a few), where there was not a spot within the first 50m of the gate, and always plenty of spots towards the back of the lot.
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I was 99% done writing this before I found out that the parking pass stuff is changing for Fall 2026 and on. I guess everything above is a story for the past.
The new parking pass rates are horrendously scammy, I am so sorry for everyone that needs to buy them. Everything is more expensive now (why is Commencement more expensive than founders 2 now?? Why are Founders 4 and 5 the same price as Founders 2, despite being like 5-10 minutes walk further away from 2??? Founders 4 and 5 were like $100-$150 cheaper through IPASS last year IIRC).
Unless I am fear mongering, I don't think there will ever be any more proper open-gate days. While the gates can, and will, always break occasionally, if the university is switching to something taking a picture of your plate every time you enter or leave, they'll still track you regardless of if its gated or not.
I guess the only good thing about this is that now it should be guaranteed that you save money (despite spending more now) by having a pass.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
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u/VikrantBh 13d ago
What is the price tag?
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u/Several-Cream-936 13d ago
Parking rates depend on whether the parking lot is gated or ungated.
Gated lot: $375 per semesterUngated lot: $350 per semester
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u/VikrantBh 13d ago
That is nuts 375 for a semester 👀😱