Everyone must find another way to UCLA

Monday, November 24, 1997

Everyone must find another way to UCLA

TRANSPORTATION:

Public transit system should be expanded to help solve traffic,
parking problemsBy Jeffrey Brown and Donald Shoup

The Daily Bruin has recently been saying what everyone has known
for a long time: UCLA suffers from enormous transportation
problems. Yet UCLA has responded to these problems with only two
real solutions: building more parking spaces and adding more
vanpools.

Traditionally, UCLA has sought to build its way out of the
transportation problem by adding parking spaces. Unfortunately,
doing this now costs the university $170 per month for each new
parking space. UCLA then sells these new spaces for $43 per month
(the price of a Yellow permit), and loses over $100 per month that
must be made up through higher fees on other parking
permit-holders.

The new parking spaces in the Parking Structure 4 Expansion now
being built will cost $26,300 each. Aside from the high cost of
building new parking spaces, there is no guarantee that UCLA can
ever build enough spaces to meet parking demand. UCLA has built
four new parking structures since 1990, but the waiting list for
parking has grown to 3,500 students.

UCLA currently rewards parking permit-holders with subsidies of
up to $100 per month. UCLA also generously supports the
university’s vanpool program for faculty and staff by subsidizing
each vanpooler $65 per month. Yet UCLA gives nothing to those who
bicycle, walk or ride the bus.

Building more parking spaces and adding more vanpools are
clearly expensive solutions to UCLA’s transportation problems. To
borrow the slogan used by Parking Services, members of the campus
community must "Find Another Way to UCLA." Is there another
way?

Other universities, including UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa
Barbara, have found another way. These universities allow students
to ride public transit to campus for free.

Students at UC Santa Cruz and at UC Santa Barbara use their
student identification card as a fare-free transit pass. The result
of these programs has been a large increase in transit ridership, a
reduction in parking demand and a great improvement in
transportation for students.

Under one promising proposal, students who use public transit
would simply show their Bruin Card as they boarded an MTA, Culver
City or Santa Monica Bus. UCLA would then be billed at a discounted
rate for the actual boardings by UCLA students. This program would
be simple and is very feasible ­ as demonstrated by its
successful use at UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara. UC Berkeley
is now debating how to institute a similar program for its
students.

Imagine a UCLA where any student could ride the bus for free.
The result would be more parking spaces for those who really need
them, reduced congestion on the way to Westwood and cleaner air.
Fare-free transit would also make an incredible array of cultural
and educational opportunities in Los Angeles accessible to
students. Students could ride to the County Museum, the Getty
Center, Santa Monica, downtown, the beach or anywhere else they
want to go ­ for free.

A fare-free transit pass for all students would be an
extraordinary recruiting tool for UCLA. Now, UCLA’s transportation
image centers around the horror stories students hear about the
difficulty in finding a place to park. A fare-free transit pass
program would not only help to solve the parking problem for
students who drive to campus, but would also be an enormous
attraction for the majority of students who do not drive to
campus.

How would UCLA pay for fare-free transit for students? Some
universities use revenues raised by their own parking operations
(citation fines and permit sales) to pay for their programs while
others use student fees. UCLA could institute a fare-free program
on a one-year trial basis with the cost to be paid from parking
fines, parking revenues and discretionary funds from the
Chancellor. After members of the campus community have become
familiar with the program and had a chance to assess its costs and
benefits, continuation of the program by a combination of student
fees and other revenue sources could then be put to a student
referendum. It is not unfair to ask the university to subsidize a
trial phase of fare-free transit when it already subsidizes parkers
and vanpoolers on a permanent basis.

On Nov. 3, the Faculty Welfare Committee voted unanimously to
endorse the proposal for a fare-free transit program for faculty,
staff and students. The Graduate Student Association has also
recommended a fare-free transit program at UCLA. As a result, the
UCLA administration is now studying the possibility of instituting
a fare-free transit program. However, UCLA students cannot remain
silent while decisions are being made. Send an e-mail to UCLA
Transportation Services at

[email protected]. with a cc: to the Graduate Students
Association at [email protected]. Those who make transportation
policy decisions at UCLA must hear the needs, concerns and
suggestions of all members of our campus community.