Transportation Services is in the process of creating a proposal for a $1 increase for daily parking permits for on-campus parking lots and structures.
Eric Lew, associate director of Transportation Services, said officials also plan to add additional pay-by-space pay stations.
Currently, pay stations allow students and visitors to pay $2 or $3 per hour, depending on where they park on campus, to park in a pay-by-space location.
Lew said the pay stations will eventually replace most metered parking areas.
The new pay-by-space locations would not affect the number of spaces available for both daily and yearly parking permits.
Currently, daily parking permits are $8, and the maximum amount charged at most pay-by-space pay stations is $8.
If approved, an official notice will be sent out in March or April and daily permits will cost $9 starting July 1. The maximum pay-by-space rate will also increase to $9.
If the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center opens before July, its projected parking fee would start at $9 and then rise to $10 when the rest of the campus increases its rate.
The old hospital parking lot would then be converted into a pay-by-space location.
This would be the first increase in price since July 1, 2005.
The department’s budget projected the daily parking permit rate to rise in order to cover forecasted expenses, such as the costs of maintaining parking structures.
“We’re trying to hold the prices steady … (but) the daily parking fees actually are a big subsidy for us ““ it offsets a lot of the costs we incur here,” Lew said.
The proposal is currently in a consultation period, where it will have to be approved by undergraduate student government and other organizations on campus, such the Academic Senate. It has already been OK’d by the UCLA Transportation Services Advisory Board.
If it passes, the proposal will then be subjected to feedback from students and staff.
Lew said that despite the increase, the parking rates at UCLA would still be competitive with the surrounding areas in Westwood Village. UCLA also benchmarks its parking rates against the rates of other urban UC campuses and has one of the lowest fees in the UC system.
Lew also said the additional pay stations would offer more alternatives to people looking to park on campus.
“We’re offering a lot more short-term pricing options (and) incremental pricing ““ you don’t have to pay the flat fee,” Lew said.
Some students believe that the fee increase is uncalled for and would discourage students from bringing their vehicles to UCLA.
“The parking rates are already overpriced, and there aren’t enough parking permits allotted yearly anyway,” said Henry Kwan, a third-year history student. “People who are visiting or need to come onto campus for any reason are disadvantaged.”
Second-year biology student Lauren Alfaro, however, said she believes the proposed fee would be acceptable.
Alfaro, who works for Transportation Services, currently does not use a car at UCLA but would agree to pay the new rate.
“We get complaints all the time already because (the rate is) $8, (but) parking in L.A. is hard enough already as it is, especially in Westwood. So for the convenience it offers, I’d personally pay it,” said Alfaro.