New details on provincial regulations that specify what hospitals can charge for parking were released today, but parking rates at Windsor Regional Hospital are already below the $10-per-day maximum rates that will be mandated for all Ontario hospitals as of October 1, 2016.
Parking rates currently at WRH’s Met campus are:
- Free for the first 20 minutes
- $3 for up to one hour
- $1 for each additional half hour
- A daily maximum of $7 per day
- For Windsor Regional Cancer Centre patients and families (entrance off Alsace Ave.), there is a $3 flat fee.
Current parking rates at WRH’s Ouellette campus depend on location as follows:
- Parking garage rates are the same as described above for Met campus – free for the first 20 minutes; $3 for up to one hour, $1 each additional hour and a daily maximum of $7 per day.
- Short-term parking – Emergency Lot and Lot “F” (located south of the Goyeau Lobby Entrance) are $4 for the first hour and $3 each additional hour.
- Long-term parking at the “Viscount Lot” (located south of hospital off of Ouellette Avenue) is $3 for the first hour or portion thereof, $1 for each additional half hour; $7 paid at one time provides receipt valid until midnight on date of purchase.
Options for passes are also available at both campuses and fall under the weekly and monthly rates established by the province (which calls for a 50 per cent discount for such passes). Currently WRH offers daily ($7), weekly ($30) and 28-day ($90) passes offering unlimited exit and entry. Tokens at a cost of 10 for $30 are also available. Passes and tokens are available for purchase at the Cashier’s Office at either campus, as well as at the Gift Shop on the 1st floor of Met campus on weekends.
Notwithstanding the fact WRH parking rates are below new provincial requirements, the availability of parking is a long-standing issue at both campuses. Currently, many staff at Met campus must use a parking lot located two blocks away and are then taken by shuttle to the campus, while many cancer patients unfortunately cannot find parking spaces in the limited availability adjacent to the Cancer Centre and in such cases use the main lot on the north side of Met campus.
Parking was rated as a top concern in feedback received by the Site Selection Committee tasked with developing criteria for its recent site selection process. Although parking lots and garages cost the same to build and maintain as they do in higher volume areas such as Greater Toronto Area hospitals – a main focus of the provincial announcement made today – our rates are well below what hospitals in the GTA have been historically charging and WRH does not have the revenue stream to cover such costs.
Also, WRH receives approximately 85% of its operational funding directly from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Parking revenues cover costs for annual maintenance of all parking lots, with any excess used to help cover some $15 million in annual equipment and other capital costs at the hospital. Equipment costs are also the same as they are at any other hospital, though many hospitals, including many in the GTA, currently charge three or four times what WRH charges for parking.
“Parking rates should be set at a rate that is fair to patients, visitors and staff,” said WRH President and CEO David Musyj. “We also recognize that immediate family members provide an important role in supporting patient care, which is why reduced parking rates are available to those individuals who are part of this process. That’s why discounted monthly parking passes have long been available to families of loved ones who are in hospital or patients who need to visit the hospital on a frequent basis.”
