Petition To Have The Gym Restrictions Revoked

UCDCritic

From 5:30pm to 8pm students are not allowed access to the main gym.

I know there is the performance gym but that gets absolutely packed in the evening, I don't like it.

As we the students are paying for this gym it is completely unfair that our access is restricted. I had to leave the gym today at 6pm and after I left the changing room I looked back at the gym and seen it was practically empty, a total waste.

I would call upon the SU to do something about this. I would call upon all students who use the gym to make a complaint.

I would like to know how they can put public members before students on this campus.

The SU are working so hard on the smoking ban which is going to be very controversial, why don't they focus on something which would be a win/win for them.

Fad

UCDCritic wrote: »

I would like to know how they can put public members before students on this campus.

To try and make money to pay for the gym/building in general/pool/whatever.

If you want to call on the SU to do something, call on the SU to do something, here however is not the place :P

First council is on Thursday, find your rep or email someone in the SU and get them to propose a motion.

ironclaw

Can you not pay a membership and use it at prime times? And its free outside those hours?

SirLemonhead

They're putting both staff and public members ahead of the students I believe. Public members are paying 800 quid a year so you're probably out of luck trying to persuade them to let all the students in

haro124

You can use the pool between those times if it's any consolation- but then again you're paying extra for it

vintagecosmos

Personally I would be fuming if I paid the membership and the gym clogged up with students. In particular because the performance gym is a mess. People dont put weights back or wipe down machines. Frustrating to have to look for plates and free weights all over the place.

All the same I wish it was open...

errlloyd

Yeah, to be fair you say "we're paying for it" but the lads paying 800 squids a year are paying a lot more for it.

AdamD

vintagecosmos wrote: »

Personally I would be fuming if I paid the membership and the gym clogged up with students. In particular because the performance gym is a mess. People dont put weights back or wipe down machines. Frustrating to have to look for plates and free weights all over the place.

All the same I wish it was open...

I don't think anyone who joins the gym of a University has any right to be fuming if its clogged up with students.

vintagecosmos

AdamD wrote: »

I don't think anyone who joins the gym of a University has any right to be fuming if its clogged up with students.

But its been sold to them as a premium sports facility with private dressing rooms, their own parking space and free towels etc. So if I paid 800 euro plus for this and then im told sorry peak times are now open to all then I would have every right to be fuming.

Like the pool paying 89 euro for the year it would be good to pay the same to get into the gym at peak times. But I doubt this will happen, they have to look after the "premium" members...:rolleyes:

UCDCritic

errlloyd wrote: »

Yeah, to be fair you say "we're paying for it" but the lads paying 800 squids a year are paying a lot more for it.

We are paying €208 multiplied by 20,000 I think that's a lot more.

Our gym should not be open to the public.

You can join a Ben Dunne gym which actually have better equipment for €200 for the whole year, that would be better for any public person.

vintagecosmos wrote: »

In particular because the performance gym is a mess. People dont put weights back or wipe down machines. Frustrating to have to look for plates and free weights all over the place.

Yeah I feel the same.

Every time I look for a staff member they are always standing together in a group having a chat. They should be looking after the gym. They do nothing.

UCDCritic

UCDCritic wrote: »

We are paying €208 multiplied by 20,000 I think that's a lot more.

Our gym should not be open to the public.

You can join a Ben Dunne gym which actually have better equipment for €200 for the whole year, that would be better for any public person.

We are not paying E208 for the gym. We are paying E208 in total for the student centre and sports centre, some of which is still going towards paying for the construction, others which are going towards the day to day maintenance of both buildings, and so on. Only a fraction of that is actually to the gym staff etc. The total amount that the gym is getting from this alone is clearly not enough to sustain its operations, which is why it is organised the way it is. I have been paying this charge since I first came to UCD in 2005. People in my class who left UCD after their degree and got a job nearby have to pay full whack to use this gym now even though they had to pay nearly E1000 to construct it. On top of that, they had to pay circa E300 to use the old shoddy gym. You have no idea how fortunate you are to be in UCD now rather than a few years ago, I would not moan about not being able to use the gym when staff and/or others want to use when they finish daily work. If we let students use the gym in these hours, we will lose the majority of these people, forcing the student centre levy to rise further. I assure you this is the best option. If you want to use it during rush hour, pay for it; otherwise, come up with a more logical solution than the removal of the people who are paying the biggest chunk towards its current cost.

average_runner

UCDCritic wrote: »

We are paying €208 multiplied by 20,000 I think that's a lot more.

Our gym should not be open to the public.

You can join a Ben Dunne gym which actually have better equipment for €200 for the whole year, that would be better for any public person.

Kick the public out and you will have no gym

Kiltennel

The income from the public is necessary for the gym to remain open. Nobody is going to pay what are pretty ludicrous fees to use the gym if it's going to be packed with students. Only solution really is to either get in during the day or use the performance gym.

That said if the public had any sense they'd join a reasonably priced gym. The prices for the gym in UCD are insane for what you're getting.

UCDCritic

€208 multiplied by 20,000 is €4,160,000 (every year)

You don't think that's enough?!?!

n2o

UCDCritic wrote: »

€208 multiplied by 20,000 is €4,160,000 (every year)

You don't think that's enough?!?!

To cover the €50 million is cost to build? Sure. Now who pays to run it?

vintagecosmos

Care to elaborate UCD Critic? Are you familiar with the financials of the student centre? Costs are massive and Im sure that a business case was made based on premium members. it cost 50 million quid! wheres the greed?

UCDCritic

I'm just sick of feeling like a second class citizen.

vintagecosmos

Welcome to the real world :pac:

haro124

The last few days they've had staff members stand at the turnstiles around 3-4 and turn away students wanting the use the gym . Yet I was at a class upstairs and looked in and it wasn't half full

vintagecosmos

haro124 wrote: »

The last few days they've had staff members stand at the turnstiles around 3-4 and turn away students wanting the use the gym . Yet I was at a class upstairs and looked in and it wasn't half full

not cool at all.... they should stick to the hours posted...

ironclaw

UCDCritic wrote: »

This is a terrible post.

What it comes down to is greed.

The fees we pay are more than enough.

Get your facts right.

As has been pointed out, a percentage of the €208 goes to the gym. Not all of it. And the rest of your fee's pay for the education you receive (And doesn't come next or near to the actual cost) The terms of the gym use are fair in my eyes. If you don't want to pay for the prime time slot, there are plenty of other gyms in the locality for half that price that open nearly 24 hours. Just go there instead. And why not cycle there if you need to? Add to the value of exercise. And that said, your getting a phenomenal facility by national standards for free to start with, just a minor condition on opening hours.

Nothing in life is free. If you want to use the gym, you should pay for it. If you want to print in UCD, you pay for it. Just like in the rest of the world.

I don't use the gym at all in UCD, should I be allowed claim some of my fee's back?

I'm just sick of feeling like a second class citizen.

Why? Your attending one of the top 100 colleges in Europe and you feel second class because a free gym is closed to your usage for a few hours a day?

EricPraline

UCDCritic wrote: »

You can join a Ben Dunne gym which actually have better equipment for €200 for the whole year, that would be better for any public person.

Even if your €208 was all going directly to the gym (which it isn't), it still wouldn't cover the cost of constructing, maintaining and staffing the gym. The nearest off-campus alternative is David Lloyd, which is €1000+ a year.

The new gym is a great facility, even if there are certain restrictions on the hours. Wonder how you would have coped with the old gym :rolleyes:

bringupthebook

The reality of it is that there would not be a facility like that built without the assurance that a vast amount of money could be brought in from the public on an ongoing basis. The idea that students even impact on its maintenance is unrealistic. Running costs must be massive before even thinking about the cost to build it.

Ucd relies mainly on postgrads & foreign students to keep running. Undergrads are a small cog in the wheel financially. In fact I would say they cost much more than they bring in.

Emz93

Is the restriction only until 8? I went one day at 8:15 and was told I had to wait until 8:45.. when I eventually got in the gym, it had about 8 people in it..

Cody Pomeray

Deleted User wrote: »

We are not paying E208 for the gym. We are paying E208 in total for the student centre and sports centre, some of which is still going towards paying for the construction, others which are going towards the day to day maintenance of both buildings, and so on.

That's still in excess of €4 million.

And then you have the rents from commercial activity in the centre.

Does anyone know how much revenue the private gym members actually bring in?

Would it even be a quarter of what the students pay? And they're given preferential treatment...

Not being able to access the gym during peak times is a fairly significant disruption.

Cody Pomeray

Cody Pomeray wrote: »

That's still in excess of €4 million.

And then you have the rents from commercial activity in the centre.

Does anyone know how much revenue the private gym members actually bring in?

Would it even be a quarter of what the students pay? And they're given preferential treatment...

Not being able to access the gym during peak times is a fairly significant disruption.

Yep you're right I have zero figures to back it up. But I do remember back in the old gym that you had to queue for ages to use anything during peak hours, so that probably would have annoyed you enough to not use it then anyway.

Cody Pomeray

Deleted User wrote: »

Yep you're right I have zero figures to back it up. But I do remember back in the old gym that you had to queue for ages to use anything during peak hours, so that probably would have annoyed you enough to not use it then anyway.

Oh yeah, I remember the old days :eek:

But back then, there wasn't a rule that implicitly forced you to be a member of the gym or you couldn't fully register and use the library.

I love the new gym, it's fantastic. But not everybody is jumping out of their skin to get in there, and they're even less motivated when they can't just pop along straight after lectures, when they're on campus.

If we're going to force people to join up and get active and get healthy, the last thing we should be doing is turning them away with a peak hours rule.

€4 million + and commercial rents sounds like a lot of money for the centre to be bringing in. I would just question the extent to which the private membership is even needed.

Completely agree. I was more in favour of the proposal of not having the gym be free, but just having it very cheap, e.g. €50 per year. It would keep a lot of the people who don't know what the hell they're doing from clogging up machines and they might not even have to ban students during peak hours. But I guess if you do the math properly that wasn't feasible which is why it is the way it is.

Kiltennel

Cody obviously I don't know your circumstances (lecture timetable, whether you're working or not etc) but surely there's an hour somewhere in your day such as before lectures or during lectures (assuming you have gaps)? It's an annoying hindrance but it's the entire selling point of the gym to external members is that it'll be relatively empty.

That said, I'd much prefer to see a charge of 50-100 quid for the year so people who join are relatively serious about using it.

errlloyd

Guys I know a lot of people are making a big deal about 4mn, you have to remember the centre was probably built on credit, and that levy probably goes towards paying some of it's debts.

Its not as if Martin Bulter is sitting in his office, writing his emails each week laughing his head off and taking personal enjoyment in the fact 3 people on boards can't use the Gym for three hours a day.

Cody Pomeray

errlloyd wrote: »

Guys I know a lot of people are making a big deal about 4mn, you have to remember the centre was probably built on credit, and that levy probably goes towards paying some of it's debts.

Oh a loan? You think??

of course there's a loan. But even at a ridiculously high interest rate of 7% (for argument's sake); the cost of the gym and the 40 year time frame during which the loan is to repaid, that would still leave about a quarter of a million in change for operating costs out of 4 million student contribution.

And that disregards commercial rents, and the use of facilities.

And that presumes no grants or tax breaks.

I would guard against simply presuming the sports centre needs private sponsorship at the current rate. especially when it disrupts users. if you think only 3 people are disrupted, youre kidding yourself. Go to any private gym in the country. There's a reason peak time is called 'peak time'.