Parking expansion unable to rectify shortage of spots

Published: Monday, September 28, 1998

Monday, September 28, 1998

SPACES: Larger lots still fail

to reduce permit waitlist; bus pass proposal to be considered

By Kathryn Combs

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

With close to 4,000 students wait-listed for on-campus parking, and too few spaces to accommodate them, officials with the UCLA Office of Parking and Commuter Services say that commuters - especially students - may have to find another way to get to UCLA.

"The reality is that right now we have a waiting list that is as bad or worse than last year," said Mark Stocki, director of transportation services at UCLA.

"Our parking system has over 21,000 parking spaces and yet there continues to be a shortage," he added.

While phase one of the Lot 4 expansion is scheduled to be completed with the start of the academic year, parking officials claim this project will do little to relieve this year's shortage.

The Lot 4 expansion consists of two parts, according to campus architect Charles Oakley. The first will be located below the soccer field and will accommodate about 750 cars.

The second phase of this project, scheduled for completion during winter quarter, will be located at the foot of Janss steps between the Men's Gym and the Dance Building. This will provide an additional 550 spaces.

Stocki, however, argues that this will still not be enough to accommodate even the existing parking demand.

"Even when we get the Janss parking, we are still going to have a shortfall," Stocki said.

According to Renee Fortier, associate director of parking and commuter services, this year's shortage is partly due to an unexpected increase in the number of employee commuters.

"(This year) we actually thought we would be much better off," Fortier said.

"However, the additional employees were a surprise,"she added.

Somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 more employees are in need of parking this year.

Although Capital Programs is currently seeking out a location for more parking structures, a site has not yet been determined.

According to Fortier, however, only 25,000 parking spaces can be built on this campus, and there are already approximately 21,000 spaces, not including the Lot 4 expansion.

Also, Lot 14, located just south of the University Police station, is scheduled to be demolished in the fall of 1999 to make space for the new hospital. So while UCLA will be gaining approximately 1,300 parking spaces this fall, it will lose 1,450 next fall.

Yet, Fortier added that the Office of Parking and Commuter Services sells 25 percent more parking permits than there are physical spaces.

"It's not one for one (because) not everyone is here at the same time," Fortier said.

"Actually, we can park ... 25 percent more cars," she said adding that only 16,271 of the parking spaces are used strictly for permit parking. There are some 3,900 spaces reserved for visitors to the medical center and campus, and also 313 metered spaces, Fortier said.

For example, last fall the Office of Parking and Commuter Services sold 34,563 parking permits. Only 9,607 went to students, including those already living on campus. Moreover, 14,123 went to staff and faculty while 10,833 were occasional use passes.

This year, parking officials are looking for other alternatives, one of which may be a student/employee bus pass.

According to a survey conducted by the Office of Parking and Commuter Services, many students are in favor of such a bus pass.

While still tentative, this plan would allow UCLA students and employees - for a small annual fee - to show their identification card in exchange for bus fare.

Only a request for information with local transit providers has been filed, however. A final decision has not yet been made.

"Looking at the potential bus pass is one more approach in seeing whether or not it would be cost effective," Stocki said. If adopted, the bus pass, however, will not entirely make up for the current shortage.

"Realistically speaking, there is no way that with a bus pass you can make up that kind of deficit," Stocki said.

"I don't want to fool anybody. Most transit alternatives provide numerically small gains," he added.

Other alternatives to the bus pass program and proposed construction are carpooling, bicycling and walking to campus, Stocki said. In addition, one of the most aggressive programs that reducing parking demand is the on campus housing program, Stocki said.

"In reality. the solution (to the parking problem) is a combination of building replacement parking and other measures ... we may even have to introduce stack parking in Lot 4," Stocki said.

"What we are doing is looking for additional space in the short term," he said. "If anything, the parking picture is going to get worse before it gets better."

Related Sites:

•UCLA Transportation Services

•Daily Bruin (10/27/87): Campus transportation woes pile up

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