Funding for BruinGo! uncertain

The wheels of BruinGo! buses still go round and round this
school year, but its future is clouded with financial
uncertainties, as people continually look for ways to fund it
permanently.

The 3-year-old pilot program, which allows UCLA students and
employees to ride the Santa Monica Big Blue Buses for free by
swiping their BruinCard, is currently being funded by a grant and
parking fees.

“The issue is really a funding scheme to make it
permanent,” said Mark Stocki, director of transportation
services.

But Stocki doesn’t think raising parking fees, one
suggested way to fund the program, is fair to the people who park
their cars. For every million dollars of lost revenue or expenses,
parking fees go up by roughly $3 per month.

“Financial benefits (of BruinGo!) are nil because we have
to support the program. It’s an additional cost,” he
said.

Alex Smith, UCLA graduate student of transportation planning,
said some people argue raising parking fees isn’t fair for
those who don’t use the program; many people take their cars
out of necessity and have no way to avoid.

But he also notes nearly half of parking permit holders are
willing to support the program by paying higher parking fees,
“which is a surprising finding since parking permit holders
are the exact group of people you would expect not to support the
program.”

In a survey Transportation Services released last March, 48.4
percent of the 215 students surveyed supported a parking fee
increase of $3 per month to fund BruinGo!, and 35.2 percent of the
91 faculty members surveyed supported the increase.

In response, Transportation Services Advisory Board will be
discussing raising student fees shortly after fall quarter begins
as a potential solution for the future, an idea the Graduate
Student Association opposes.

“The regents are already trying to increase our (student
fees) … the university should help us out with the expense of the
city,” said GSA Internal Vice President Dorothy Kim.
“We don’t think students should fill the
bill.”

This year GSA and the Undergraduate Students Association Council
will be trying to get more media attention and awareness on campus
for BruinGo!, Kim said.

GSA will talk to new graduate students at the grad student
orientation about the program.

“The future is unclear but we’ll be fighting like
crazy to make sure it stays. Every year we’ve had to fight it
to keep it,” said Kim.

How much student fees could be raised, if at all, will be
discussed by the TSAB.

“It’s not clear at this point whether funding will
come from a student fee increase resulting from a referendum, a
continuation of parking revenue as in the past, or other university
or outside sources,” Smith said.

Forty-four percent of the students surveyed last spring said
they were willing to support a student fee increase to support
BruinGo!, said Stocki.

As a result, “I certainly think (BruinGo!) is going to
continue,” Stocki said.

Third-year microbiology student Walter Lai, who uses BruinGo! on
a weekly basis to volunteer at the UCLA Santa Monica Hospital, said
he would support raising student fees up to five dollars to support
BruinGo!

“So many universities have free bus systems, and while
we’re in L.A. we pretty much have to organize our own
transportation. That’s pretty inconvenient,” he
said.

Strongly reliant on the BruinGo! program, Lai added that he
would be less inclined to volunteer if BruinGo! didn’t
exist.

“It would be harder to get to L.A. Santa Monica’s
pretty far away from campus,” he said.

Like Lai, many UCLA students use the Big Blue Bus to reach
volunteer or research opportunities.

Audrey Cramer, the director of undergraduate research center for
life and physical sciences, said there are several Student Research
Program students whose primary research lab or practice is located
off campus.

“There are students in these research programs who need to
use BruinGo! to reach these opportunities,” she said.

Last school year, the program cost $900,000 to implement,
$618,000 of which was funded by a Metro Transportation Authority
Grant. The rest was funded by revenues from parking permits.

This year, the projected cost of BruinGo! is about $1.2 million,
assuming there is a five percent increase in ridership, said
Stocki.

When the program resumes on Sept. 16, UCLA riders will be
grateful for the new UCLA Express line service, a component of
BruinGo! which allows them to get on and off right in front of
Ackerman Union.

“It’s a tremendous convenience. It will distribute
students into the heart of UCLA,” Stocki said.