Monday, February 22, 1999
Bus plan would create unlimited opportunities
TRANSPORT: Bruin Card could become students’ ticket to ride, at
UCLA’s expense
By Jeffrey Brown and Donald Shoup
Imagine a university program that reduces traffic congestion,
helps clean the air, provides more parking for students who really
need it, and is easy to use.
UCLA’s Transportation Service is working to make this vision a
reality. They are negotiating with Santa Monica Transit to create
an "Unlimited Access" program that will transform student
identification cards into transit passes. At universities where
students can ride public transit to campus for free, transit
ridership has increased, parking demand has shrunk, and students
have more transportation options.
The program is simple. Students who use public transit will show
their Bruin Card as they board a bus, and UCLA will then pay for
the rides that students make. UCLA can pay for fare-free transit
for all students with the money it would otherwise spend to build
parking structures.
For example, UCLA has just spent $33 million to expand Parking
Structure 4. Each new parking space costs the university $170 per
month for capital and operating costs. UCLA then sells permits to
park in these new spaces for $43 per month, and loses over $100 per
space per month. By contrast, the average cost of student transit
pass programs at other universities is $36 per student per
year.
UCLA’s pilot program with Santa Monica Transit will be based on
transit programs already in place at four other University of
California (UC) campuses – UC Davis, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara
and UC Santa Cruz. Berkeley is considering a similar program for
its students. If the pilot program is successful, it can be
extended to the other transit lines that serve UCLA.
Unlimited Access will be a good recruiting tool for UCLA. Now,
UCLA’s transportation image centers on the horror stories students
hear about the difficulty in finding a place to park.
Unlimited Access will not only help to solve the parking problem
for students who drive to campus, but will also serve the 23,000
students who do not drive to campus. Students who don’t have cars
will gain access to an incredible array of cultural, educational
and recreational opportunities in Los Angeles.
Over 1,100 buses arrive at UCLA every weekday, and Unlimited
Access will allow students to ride these buses to the Getty Center,
the Los Angeles County Museum, the Music Center, the beach, movie
theaters or anywhere else they want to go – for free.
Unlimited Access will be coming on line at an opportune time.
UCLA will soon lose 1,400 parking spaces when Parking Structure 14
is torn down to make way for the new hospital. How should we make
up the loss of these spaces?
We can construct more parking spaces at an astronomical cost to
serve a few students – or we can reduce the need for these spaces
by providing an Unlimited Access program for all students.
The Legislative Assembly and the Faculty Welfare Committee of
the Academic Senate, the Graduate Students Association and the
Undergraduate Students Association have all voted to endorse a
transit benefit for faculty, staff and students.
Everybody at UCLA wants Unlimited Access.
Comments, feedback, problems?
© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]