Giant sucking sound from Sait.. [Archive] - Beyond.ca - Car Forums

Maxt

03-23-2010, 07:25 PM

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100323/CGY_SAIT_Sears_100323/20100323/?hub=CalgaryHome

ctvcalgary.ca

A cheaper parking solution for SAIT students has been stalled.

A few months ago, Sears sold parking passes to SAIT students for $50 per month.

The rate was cheaper than the approximately $135 SAIT charges for monthly parking.

But the deal didn't last long.

"Representatives from SAIT went and met with representatives from Sears to see if they had the authority to offer parking permits. From what we believed they were only zoned for what's considered retail parking," says Heidi Sparks, a spokesperson for SAIT.

"[Sears'] current approval doesn't contemplate what we would call a stand alone parking use. The land use that would accommodate it is subject to a development permit," says Mark Sasges, a land-use planner with the city.

The city says Sears needs to apply for a development permit which the company says it plans to follow through on.

But the odds of getting approval are not in Sears' favour. "It's unlikely we would support it because we would see it as undermining the whole process of providing transit infrastructure to serve the campus," says Sasges.

The thought of losing the cheaper parking is not sitting well with students.

"It seems like the school is pressuring them a bit to kind of make more money for themselves," says Lance Hof, a SAIT student.

"It's more than double the price, so I was obviously a little upset but what can you do," questions Evran Jawad, a SAIT student.

SAIT says it took issue with the parking alternative in an attempt to protect staff and students from unknowingly doing something that is not compliant.

Uh huh... Sait is so concerned about compliance... More like parking monopoly.. The shit apple doesn't fall far from the shit tree..

PremiumRSX

03-23-2010, 07:30 PM

yes.. they're worried about compliance.. for all their students..

How much is the parking going to be at the new SAIT parkade anyways?

AE92_TreunoSC

03-23-2010, 07:31 PM

Sait's point is valid, they spent a ton of money providing a parking facility for the students with proper zoning and sears undercut them hard with illegitimate parking.

It's just business as usual, I dont blame sait for it, not do I approve of the action they took.

I park 12 blocks away and save myself the 10$ a day :)

Killa_Kam

03-23-2010, 07:32 PM

F**k sait if you want cheap parking do what i do, go park the in the 1.50/half hour lot and when you wanna leave get your buddy to pull up to the gate get a new ticket and back up then just use his ticket to get out. I could car less how much money sait makes, there parking passes are just way to high. I think its wrong to make that much money off your students!!

Spoons

03-23-2010, 08:06 PM

Don't you love that monopolies are illegal? :rolleyes:

That actually disgusted me. One thing trying to get money, but don't fucking lie to my face about it...

... Oh wait every banker in America did.

speedog

03-23-2010, 08:23 PM

Let me get this straight now. The thinking in this thread is if I am legitimately operating a business within certain guidelines/laws/bylaws/etc, then I should not be able to take issue with a nearby competing business that is not operating within those same guidelines?

Maybe I'm crazy but as a business owner, you can sure as hell bet that I will make every effort to ensure my competitors are operating under the same guidelines that I am and I would expect the same of them. That's business, folks, and I would expect that every single one of you would expect the same of yourselves if you owned your own businesses.

speedog

03-23-2010, 08:25 PM

Please note that if SAIT actually stated SAIT says it took issue with the parking alternative in an attempt to protect staff and students from unknowingly doing something that is not compliant, then I call B.S. on that.

Maxt

03-23-2010, 08:36 PM

The sears alternative has been there forever, and Sait never had an issue with it, until the top heavy management started viewing everything as a profit centre.
And the city is going to back sait up, simply to try and force people to lrt it, or park and ride($$) and then lrt it. Sears will be blocked by the city for a development permit, so the city can profit off the situation to..
Pretty disgusting if you ask me..I don't believe institutions like sait are for education or the students anymore, they are simply empires run by self serving maggots.

Disoblige

03-23-2010, 08:40 PM

lol ^^.. Then U of C is like the queen maggot.

4DoorGTZ

03-23-2010, 09:18 PM

So would the vacant lots and run down houses in Vic Park have development permits for parking during a flames game? But they're stealing business from the legitimate parking on the grounds :nut:

Twin_Cam_Turbo

03-23-2010, 09:25 PM

I park at Sears anyway if I drive my truck, I like taunting the parking Nazis there. If I drive my car I just park at work and walk the extra 5 minutes across 16th and through the mall.

Canmorite

03-23-2010, 09:46 PM

How else are they going to make money off that gigantic parkade they just built? Oh ya, by doubling the rate at the Jubilee parkade to $8, and charging $12/day to park at the new parkade :poosie:

I only park at SAIT when I have to. So many other options available.

G-ZUS

03-23-2010, 09:51 PM

Originally posted by Killa_Kam
F**k sait if you want cheap parking do what i do, go park the in the 1.50/half hour lot and when you wanna leave get your buddy to pull up to the gate get a new ticket and back up then just use his ticket to get out. I could car less how much money sait makes, there parking passes are just way to high. I think its wrong to make that much money off your students!!

I used to follow people out when they are driving out, never once paid those fuckers in 2 years

Students have always been parking at the mall and they had to ticket and/or tow cars that were parking. People still parked there no matter what, so they decided they might as well make some profit off of it.

Toma

03-23-2010, 09:53 PM

If I was Sears, just for the fuck of it, I would give it away in that SE corner.... Just to really piss of the nazis.

alloroc

03-23-2010, 09:58 PM

Originally posted by Toma
If I was Sears, just for the fuck of it, I would give it away in that SE corner.... Just to really piss of the nazis.

kaput

03-23-2010, 10:13 PM

Toma

03-23-2010, 10:14 PM

Originally posted by kaput
Sears could just reduce the parking tickets they write to $1.50...
Now THAT is Brilliant. :thumbsup:

Joe-G

03-23-2010, 10:20 PM

FUCK SAIT! Screw them and their $12 parking! :whipped:

Although there is another technique to park for free....
Prepaid credit cards FTW! :thumbsup:

rizfarmer

03-23-2010, 11:09 PM

You could see this shit coming 5 years ago when the changed the registrars office to Customer Service... what does that suggest to you? glad I moved on from that place shortly after.

l/l/rX

03-23-2010, 11:30 PM

Originally posted by Joe-G
FUCK SAIT! Screw them and their $12 parking! :whipped:

Although there is another technique to park for free....
Prepaid credit cards FTW! :thumbsup:

works at every school :)

DJ_NAV

03-23-2010, 11:49 PM

^expand on that for me plz... PM me actually. thanks!

Dilmah

03-24-2010, 06:58 AM

Originally posted by l/l/rX

works at every school :)

Tell us more...

Joe-G

03-24-2010, 07:01 AM

When you pay with a credit card, prepaid or not, it does not automatically charge your credit card. From my understanding it does so after a couple business days...

So if you have a maxed out credit card, or a prepaid card with a zero balance you can park for free!

sexualbanana

03-24-2010, 07:06 AM

Originally posted by 4DoorGTZ
So would the vacant lots and run down houses in Vic Park have development permits for parking during a flames game? But they're stealing business from the legitimate parking on the grounds :nut:

That's the first thing that came to my mind too

G-ZUS

03-24-2010, 07:06 AM

mowglee

03-24-2010, 08:11 AM

Looks like I'm going to get me a prepaid credit card :D :D

Masked Bandit

03-24-2010, 08:36 AM

While I understand the idea that SAIT is losing business to a competitor who is not operating on a level playing field...SAIT IS NOT A BUSINESS! They are a government funded (taxpayer) public institution there to SERVE THE PUBLIC, not generate a profit like private business. If they were actually interested in SERVING THE PUBLIC (students) they wouldn't give a rat's ass where people parked or what kind of deal they got.

ekguy

03-24-2010, 09:23 AM

I went to SAIT for a couple years and being from a family that is almost all teachers I can honestly say there was maybe one or two good teachers in the program I was taking. SAIT is a shitty school trying to present itself as a great one. Some programs are good such as mechanics and all those hands on type programs, but business and such are awful to say the least.

derpderp

03-24-2010, 09:27 AM

How much could it possibly cost to own a parking lot?

speedog

03-24-2010, 09:40 AM

Originally posted by Masked Bandit
While I understand the idea that SAIT is losing business to a competitor who is not operating on a level playing field...SAIT IS NOT A BUSINESS! They are a government funded (taxpayer) public institution there to SERVE THE PUBLIC, not generate a profit like private business. If they were actually interested in SERVING THE PUBLIC (students) they wouldn't give a rat's ass where people parked or what kind of deal they got. Are you sure SAIT is not a business? They certainly are not classed as a charity and the only other thing they could be is a business, no? Now, while SAIT is a post-secondary institution that does receive direct public funding, that doesn't mean all of their funding is from public dollars and that doesn't mean that they can't make money. Guess the question here is whether or not a post-secondary institution is a business or not and I'd bet that they fall more into the business class then charity class.

Xtrema

03-24-2010, 09:52 AM

speedog

03-24-2010, 09:55 AM

So for downtown workers - is SAIT a good deal? $135.00 a month and a short stroll/bike ride/transit into downtown. Or is this $135.00 parking only available to SAIT students/staff?

And maybe Sears/North Hill Centre mall should rezone and market part of their parking to downtown workers from the burbs - could be a very viable side business for them.

Xtrema

03-24-2010, 09:59 AM

Originally posted by speedog
So for downtown workers - is SAIT a good deal? $135.00 a month and a short stroll/bike ride/transit into downtown. Or is this $135.00 parking only available to SAIT students/staff?

Sorta. If you still have to hop on a train, park & ride is cheaper.

There are public lot DT that charges as little as $250/mth with way less walking distance.

Truth be told, if I have to walk that far to work in DT, I may as well park at a few free zones around 18-20 Ave SW.

FraserB

03-24-2010, 10:01 AM

The point here is that this was never a problem until they built their new parkade. Now that its done and no one uses it because of the bullshit rates, they have to find some war to drive business back to them. Its a dick move because form what I have heard, almost all the monthly passes are already sold, forcing you to pay by the day. It also forces people with high clearance vehicles into the surface lots to pay $3.00-$4.00/hour

mazdavirgin

03-24-2010, 10:43 AM

Originally posted by speedog
And maybe Sears/North Hill Centre mall should rezone and market part of their parking to downtown workers from the burbs - could be a very viable side business for them.

The city is quoted as saying they wouldn't allow Sears to rezone :rofl: No wonder parking is so expensive. The city is trying to keep prices artificially high by enforcing monopolies.

But the odds of getting approval are not in Sears' favour. "It's unlikely we would support it because we would see it as undermining the whole process of providing transit infrastructure to serve the campus," says Sasges.

FraserB

03-24-2010, 11:13 AM

After thinking about it, this is actually going to cost SAIT money in the long run. Basically someone can go buy a $25 pre-pay VISA, use the balance and then use the card with no balance at SAIT parking lots to pay the daily fee. All that will happen on the slight chance they are caught is they will pay the regular fee, claiming they didn't know the card was bad. A better move would be to adjust the rate to be in line with MRU and the U of C, but that would hamper the schools ability to squeeze as much cash out of their students as possible.

gqmw

03-24-2010, 12:18 PM

Thanks Joe-G for sharing this information with everyone...

Now everyone's going to do it and they're going to catch on, change the machines, then we all have to pay for parking legit. :(

l/l/rX

03-24-2010, 12:20 PM

Originally posted by gqmw
Thanks Joe-G for sharing this information with everyone...

Now everyone's going to do it and they're going to catch on, change the machines, then we all have to pay for parking legit. :(

my friends have been doing it for years...

Masked Bandit

03-24-2010, 12:22 PM

Originally posted by speedog
Are you sure SAIT is not a business? They certainly are not classed as a charity and the only other thing they could be is a business, no? Now, while SAIT is a post-secondary institution that does receive direct public funding, that doesn't mean all of their funding is from public dollars and that doesn't mean that they can't make money. Guess the question here is whether or not a post-secondary institution is a business or not and I'd bet that they fall more into the business class then charity class.

I see what you're saying but maybe the best label would be a "non-profit" organization. To me a business is an entity to generate profit for a shareholder (be it private or public). Any revenues generated by SAIT go back into SAIT, not a shareholder / owner.

Toma

03-24-2010, 01:14 PM

Originally posted by mazdavirgin

The city is quoted as saying they wouldn't allow Sears to rezone :rofl: No wonder parking is so expensive. The city is trying to keep prices artificially high by enforcing monopolies.

Yup.... :thumbsdow

dimi

03-24-2010, 01:40 PM

Originally posted by Joe-G
When you pay with a credit card, prepaid or not, it does not automatically charge your credit card. From my understanding it does so after a couple business days...

So if you have a maxed out credit card, or a prepaid card with a zero balance you can park for free!

I have a question for you.

Why would you come on beyond flaunting this scam? What do you get out of it? Beyond Cred?

Because of total retards like you, everyone and their dog is pulling this scam now and you can't even find a spot anymore. How fucking stupid are you really?

Xtrema

03-24-2010, 02:33 PM

speedog

03-24-2010, 02:45 PM

Originally posted by Masked Bandit

I see what you're saying but maybe the best label would be a "non-profit" organization. To me a business is an entity to generate profit for a shareholder (be it private or public). Any revenues generated by SAIT go back into SAIT, not a shareholder / owner. So if SAIT is a "non-profit" organization, then what's the big deal. SAIT, by going after North Hill Centre, is only looking after one of their income generating avenues which no doubt subsidizes SAIT's operating costs. So if you want to park in SAIT's lots, then you are in effect also subsidizing SAIT's ongoing operations. If you don't want to further subsidize SAIT, then park a few blocks away and walk although you'll start pissing off the residents in those neighborhoods who'll start complaining to their alderman which will eventually result in larger zoned parking areas in the neighboring communities.

If you still have an issue with SAIT's parking prices and still wish to continue to park there, then get involved and have your say - there must be a student's association there where you can make your voices heard, no? See if you can make a difference.

Mibz

03-24-2010, 03:01 PM

The same people bitching about this have probably already bitched about the quality of facilities at SAIT.

gqmw

03-24-2010, 03:31 PM

Originally posted by l/l/rX

my friends have been doing it for years...

As have I...but the more people that do it, the less likely it will continue working in the future. I don't know about you but I'd prefer to have it work till I graduate. They are starting to catch on/they did catch on. I'm typing on my phone so I won't expand into details on that, but they do know of this.

Joe-G

03-24-2010, 05:57 PM

Originally posted by dimi

I have a question for you.

Why would you come on beyond flaunting this scam? What do you get out of it? Beyond Cred?

I have been doing this for ~3 years now, and I have only told 1 person.

Because of total retards like you, everyone and their dog is pulling this scam now and you can't even find a spot anymore. How fucking stupid are you really?

Haha nice ninja edit buddy! You fucking hypocrite! Im not in it for this "beyond cred" you speak of. Honestly, they already know about the flaw. They've known for awhile, and I'm sure you've probably experienced what they have been doing to counteract this loop hole. Might as well make the most out of it now, right?

Yes, I know how to get away with parking for free, but 99% of the time i always pay. Unlike you, i don't abuse the system multiple times. It's people like you that do this for years, probably for every time you park, that makes it obvious to them.

kbye

03-24-2010, 06:46 PM

yea that pre-paid shit won't work. used to work on impark and uofc until they upgraded their systems, i'm sure sait will catch on and do the same. and then they'll raise their rates to pay for the upgrade :poosie:

Maxt

03-24-2010, 07:22 PM

The more I think about this, the more it pisses me off.. The city and sait have no problem begging private enterprise for involvement when it suits them, then they fight it when it crosses paths with them. They don't want any kind of competition, to the point Sait and the city are colluding now to limit private competition, so they can monopolize the parking to pay for their way over budget projects.
The planning application will not be a fairly heard application since the city has a vested interest in denying it.
Yet they want it both ways, they have forced private parking lot owners in close vicinity to C-train stations to have to step up and pay for extra monitoring to stop c-train patrons from plugging the parking lots. But then they don't want the private industry from making money off it, that probably just covers the cost of the extra monitoring.
I worked directly for North hill half a life time ago, and the c-train parking was a major problem then. With the advent of Park and Gouge, I imaging its now a problem of epic proportions to deal with. Even more so around the holiday shopping season. Back then , security would do a once a month blitz on park and riders/sait users from the roof top of the mall. It had to, upwards of 200 cars a day were parking illegally there.
At one time the Mall approached the city about them leasing part of the lot for park and riders, they city refused to pay for any area, and told the mall it was there problem for being so close to the ctrain.
I think a phone call to that wards alderman is in order.. If its who I think it is though, it will just be pissing into the wind.