Parking at University of Canberra

Yes there are a few options for parking; you can organise a permit through the university and there are extra car parks purely for people with these permits. You can also pay as you go however the only options to pay are credit card or you can use your student id which is a prepaid visa card which you can put money on. I don’t think I have ever not gotten a car park however during the busy times I can be driving around for at least 20 minutes looking so best bet is to get there early. I’m super paranoid about that kind of stuff so when I first started at uni I would go in during the holidays and suss out where my class rooms were and where all the car parks were located when I had plenty of time to look around and wasn’t stressed. Might help ease some of his concern, good luck 🙂

Thanks so much to everyone that replied to my question – all your comments are most helpful. I agree that $13 per fortnight is very reasonable for parking. We’ll also check out the parking options AR610 suggested, across Haydon Drive.

It’s about $13 per fortnight which is not entirely unreasonable since most students spent this amount on the mighty goon bag. (not all but most). I pay this myself it doesn’t really break the bank if he’s working and living at home.

There are 4 large car parks around the University of Canberra and they can some can be full but there are 3-4 large carpark sections around the uni that are not completely filled up – just means a brisk 3-5 minute walk from your car after you take a magic car ride around the campus. Sometimes your lucky othertimes it can be struggle street.

The great thing about uni these days all the lectures are recorded and are posted online. The only thing he’d have to worry about is the tutes. But thats another story… this is a question about car parking lol.

dkNigs said :

Motorcycle parking is free! Haven’t taken my car since they introduced rip off pay parking which is a pain to pay for casually, and you couldn’t pay me to make my 8 minute ride into a 50 minute bus trip/walk.

Yes when I went to uni it was at least 1 1/2 hrs on bus or 25-30 minute car trip. This is still the major reason why people prefer to drive and the light rail isn’t going to fix that. although they didn’t charge when I was at UC, parking was still a pain, but fortunately only after around 9-10 and as an engineer I had a lot more hours on campus usually starting earlier so wasn’t a problem.

Motorcycle parking is free! Haven’t taken my car since they introduced rip off pay parking which is a pain to pay for casually, and you couldn’t pay me to make my 8 minute ride into a 50 minute bus trip/walk.

There’s some vacant office blocks across Haydon Drive with equally vacant car parks 🙂

Paid parking was introduced on campus last year. If you arrive after about 10am it’s usually pretty busy but I have never been unable to find a spot. You can buy permits on the UC website linked to student I’d and the rates aren’t too bad. Try to always allow a bit of extra time though.

Is the parking free for students? Seems unlikely!

The car parks @UC are all boom gate controlled now. You need a student or staff card, or ‘credit card’ to pay from memory. Not sure if this might be relaxed at start of semester or not. The earlier you get there the better. Patience is important if it’s busy. Not worth chancing parking illegally on campus – the inspectors are out every day issuing tickets. If walking from CIT isn’t too far, then the stroll from Belconnen would be easy, particularly if you can get near the lake/macdonalds. Easy walk if bussing it too.

The student permits are very inexpensive, so could be well worth it if there more than a couple of days a week.

Note there is a brief ‘grace period’ in the carparks where you can get out again without having to pay (maybe 10-15 mins?), so if he doesn’t find a park, he can get out and try another. Dynamic signs have also been installed that show which carparks have vacancies and how many, so that makes it easier also.

Car parks in UC are controlled – I believe you need a voucher or a sticker for your car. I would contact Student Services or the Uni itself.

Catching a bus would be cheaper and remove the parking hassle (replacing it with a ‘travelling on a bus’ hassle).