While UCLA students are facing parking fee increases starting January 2011, some have the option of parking around campus for free.
Students who drive motorized scooters or motorcycles are able to park for free in any UCLA parking structure that allows motorcycle parking.
Jordan Woolbright, a fourth-year economics student, is one student who has been taking advantage of the free parking.
Woolbright learned about the free parking for motorcycles his first year and now uses it when he commutes from his apartment.
“It’s a 40-minute walk from my apartment to campus and only an eight-minute drive,” Woolbright said.
Commuters have never had to pay for motorcycle parking, said Michael Sommers, assistant to the director of UCLA Transportation. In the early 1990s, a proposal to charge for motorcycle parking was met with student protest and was eventually withdrawn, Sommers said.
Windee Delgado, a third-year women’s studies student who drives a car to campus, said she understands why motorcycles are given parking benefits.
“It’s OK if they park here for free because it’s a little more eco-friendly, and they take up less space,” Delgado said.
But Delgado, who commutes for two hours to get to UCLA and also has a child, said she does not have the opportunity to reap the benefit of driving a motorcycle or motorized scooter herself.
“It’s unfair for those like myself who can’t because they have a child,” Delgado said.