BruinGo! best transportation solution

UCLA Transportation Services has constantly questioned whether
BruinGo! ““ a program which allows students, staff and faculty
to ride the Santa Monica and Culver City buses to campus at a
discounted rate ““ is worth the money it costs.

A recent study, conducted by a staff member at transportation
services, concluded BruinGo! does little to reduce driving to
campus. Instead, it draws its ridership from people who would have
otherwise walked to campus. Since we want to reduce solo-driving,
and we don’t want to reduce walking, this is a serious
criticism.

But is it true? We can look at data from transportation
services, and draw our own conclusions.

The share of commuters who rode the bus to campus more than
doubled to 20 percent during BruinGo!’s first year, dipped
slightly in the second, and rose to 21 percent in the third. The
share of commuters who drove to campus alone also fell in the first
two years, to 41 percent. So far, so good. But in the third year of
the program, the share of solo drivers jumped, while the share of
people who walked to campus plummeted. Apparently on the basis of
these shifts in the third year, the transportation services staff
member concludes, “the main source of fare-free transit users
was found to be walkers.”

But how can anyone blame BruinGo! for these shifts in the third
year of the program? Instead, it is more reasonable to say that
many of the new drivers during the third year were former
walkers.

In any case, how serious is transportation services about
reducing solo driving to campus? With great celebration, UCLA
opened its new $47 million, 1,500-space Lot 7 in the center of
campus in March 2003. No one can spend $47 million on a new parking
structure without attracting new drivers. As the saying goes,
“if you build it, they will come.”

After Lot 7 opened, the Daily Bruin interviewed some users and
found that some of them formerly walked. On April 9, 2003, The
Bruin reported how one student used to park her car on the corner
of Beverly Glen and Sunset boulevards every morning before walking
for 25 minutes to campus. Now one of the 545 proud owners of a Lot
7 parking permit, this student said she was thankful the new
structure opened early because “it’s a pain walking
when it’s hot or when it’s raining.”

Lot 7 also attracted former vanpoolers. One new driver reported,
“I didn’t have a permit before so I had to vanpool. For
me, having a permit is awesome.”

Awesome indeed. Paying only $55 a month to park in a space that
costs $31,500 to build is awesome. That’s quite a subsidy and
there’s probably no better deal on campus. It is
inconsistent, to say the least, to spend $47 million on a new
parking structure, subsidize everyone who uses it, and say that you
want to reduce solo-driving to campus.

BruinGo! is cheaper than building new parking structures, better
for the environment and less likely to increase solo-driving.

Nevertheless, transportation services cut spending on BruinGo!
by $500,000 this year, and it is at work to spend $50.2 million to
build three more parking structures. It is also spending $7 million
to upgrade its own on-campus shuttle bus that costs UCLA $2 for
every ride. Last year, Chancellor Albert Carnesale advised the
Academic Senate, “There are some things we have to do to
concentrate on excellence. One is to maintain excellence where we
already enjoy it.”

Transportation services seems to have interpreted this as a
directive to maintain excellence in parking. When all the new
campus parking spaces under construction are finished, UCLA will
have more parking spaces than any other university in the United
States ““ and probably in the world.

As Carnesale says, “Your budget should reflect your
priorities,” and we can deduce transportation service’s
priorities from its budget. This year, transportation services
began charging 25 cents for each BruinGo! ride to campus and
eliminated BruinGo! on weekends, but still gives free rides on its
own shuttle buses. UCLA’s cost for each short ride on the
shuttle bus is five times its cost for a much longer BruinGo! ride
to campus, but the shuttle has one priceless advantage. Painted on
the sides of all the shuttle buses, everyone can see the
transportation service’s proud motto: “Dedicated to
Excellence.”

Shoup is a professor in the urban planning
department.