Los Angeles may be notorious for its traffic and lack of parking, but school officials said there are several transportation alternatives from both the university and the city for students to get around.
Nicole Kaneshiro, a first-year undeclared student, said she heard parking permits were costly and difficult to obtain, which left little reason for her to bring a car to campus.
“Parking permits are very expensive, and I have quite a number of relatives in the area who could drive me somewhere if need be. I’m planning on just taking the bus if I need to travel a far distance,” Kaneshiro said.
Renee Fortier, the director of UCLA Transportation Services, said UCLA tries to minimize the number of vehicles traveling to and from the campus due to the impact on traffic, and students must have a legitimate need for a car in order to obtain parking on campus.
“The campus has a voluntary cap on the number of daily vehicles’ trips. … If students don’t have an off-campus job or official internship and live in the residential halls, they cannot get a parking permit,” Fortier said.
But she added that students have a number of alternate options to travel across Los Angeles, including a program called BruinGo!, which is an agreement between UCLA and the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus and the Culver City Bus that allows students and faculty pay 25 cents during the school year to ride the bus.
The City Council of Santa Monica, which runs the Big Blue Bus service, will raise its fares, including doubling the student fare to 50 cents, but Fortier said UCLA will subsidize the extra cost when the program resumes in the fall.
In addition, she said there is a program available with the Metro bus where UCLA pays half of students’ bus fees.
Pam Chen, a third-year history student, said she does not have a car while at school and has often ridden the bus around Los Angeles without encountering any problems.
“(The buses) in L.A. are easy to use and are no better or worse than any other system I’ve taken,” Chen said.
But Camille Le, a second-year history student, said the buses were inefficient at traveling to key points across Los Angeles.
“Sure, we have Universal Studios, Hollywood and Chinatown close by, but with the traffic conditions and multiple bus stops, getting to those places is difficult,” Le said.
In addition to getting around town, students who live off campus have transportation options to get to school, said Penny Menton, the associate director of Transportation Services.
“Students living in local apartments south of Wilshire can take the campus express shuttle which runs regularly to and from campus,” she said.
Le said that there is also a shuttle between the dorms and campus, but she said the limited hours are not conducive to the “laziness of a procrastinating college student.”
The part-time service, called the Northwest Shuttle, runs from Hedrick Court to the main campus from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, Fortier said.
In addition, Transportation Services offers a vanpool program that travels to areas such as the San Fernando Valley and Ventura and Riverside counties.
“Our vanpools serve over 80 communities in the Los Angeles region and can be utilized by students who go home on weekends as well,” Fortier said.
Students with specific transportation needs can use the recently introduced Westwood FlyAway service, as well as the Flexcar program.
Menton said the Westwood FlyAway service consists of nonstop, hour-long trips from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. between UCLA and Los Angeles International Airport at a cost of $4, while the Flexcar program is an hourly car rental service located by the residential halls and North Village, the area of Westwood surrounding the campus.
“Flexcars can be rented to students as young as 18 years old, and are useful for local trips,” Menton said.
Charles Carter, communications analyst for Transportation Services, said incoming freshmen should be able to feel comfortable traveling around the UCLA area and Los Angeles without a car.
“It should not be understated that students in the residential halls have many options to get around campus without feeling trapped,” Carter said.