As anyone who has ever parked at UCLA knows, parking tickets are a serious business ”“ not to mention a serious source of revenue for UCLA transportation.
But despite a gross revenue from parking tickets exceeding $3 million, UCLA transportation reported being $1 million in debt this year, a shortfall some critics have blamed on inefficiency.
Renee Fortier, UCLA director of transportation services, said that UCLA parking completely depends on revenue from parking permits and fines to run the $42 million program, as none of the units within transportation receive any state funding.
But professor of urban planning Donald Shoup, UCLA’s resident parking guru, said that the lack of efficiency at UCLA transportation is the biggest contributor to their debt.
“UCLA has more parking spaces than any other UC campus. … One-third of all the built space on campus is parking structures. We ought to better manage what we have instead of building more spaces,” Shoup said.
Shoup added that the high price of building new structures, often incompatible with the low price of the sought-after permits, leaves the structures in debt.
Despite taking in more than 75,000 parking fines last year, UCLA transportation still had a net loss of $1 million. Much of their revenue goes to supporting major debt repayment services on parking structures, alternative transportation and staff payments.
“It’s 100 percent self-supported, all of the maintenance and structure … all of it comes from users,” Fortier said.
Fortier added that in total, about $6 million is spent on alternative transportations like BruinGo!, vanpools and the campus shuttle system every year.
Some funds also go towards paying the 10 permit enforcers on the UCLA transportation payroll.
Shoup blames the “bureaucratic” parking system at UCLA for wasting space, offering insufficient student parking and imposing inflexible rules.
“When you think of UCLA parking, you think of a bureaucracy. The permit system is a bureaucracy. It only allows you to park in certain areas,” Shoup said.
Shoup added that the system used to determine who does and does not get a permit, which encouraged students to lie in their parking permit applications. The point system is “need-based” focusing on factors such as commuting distance and family hardship.
“If you don’t have a permit … you’re nobody at UCLA. It’s quite inflexible for students, because they apply for the point system and they’re told where to park. It’s based on things that don’t apply and encourages them to cheat,” Shoup said.
Despite UCLA Parking’s debt, parking enforcement officers are not forced to dole out a minimum number of tickets per day.
Fortier said the officers do not have quotas as prohibited by state law but will strictly enforce violations such as handicapped placard abuse and parking without a permit.
“We do a pretty rigorous enforcement of handicapped placard abuse. … We will actually observe someone walking from their vehicle and we will ask them to show their registration for that card,” Fortier said.
But many students feel that the current standards of parking enforcement are unfair.
James Wei, a first-year economics student, said that he was given a $42 fine after parallel parking outside of the lines near Sproul Hall.
“Basically, my car was stuck out 20 percent … but the car behind me was sticking out, so I had no choice.” Wei said.
Wei, who added that this was his first parking ticket, said that he felt the ticketing was unfair. “I was really surprised by the fact that they didn’t consider what the other car was doing. I think that it’s really unfair of them to pick on the little details,” he said.
Kei Kawa, a public policy graduate student, said that he received a ticket for not displaying a ticket on the dashboard, despite the fact that he had bought one at the pay-by-space.
“I forgot to put the ticket in the dashboard. … I took it with me,” Kawa said.
Steve Rand, the manager of enforcement, traffic and adjudication for UCLA transportation, said that tickets are frequently given for not displaying a permit decal. Officers will also cite students who have a permit valid for another lot or even students who accidentally type in the wrong number when using a pay-by-space.
Angela Lewis, an office assistant in athletic tutorials, says that her part-time status doesn’t make her eligible for a permit. As a result, she often parks in Lot 6, where two hours cost $6.
“It sucks when you pay like $6 for a permit and you still get a ticket,” Lewis said, adding that she’s often on campus longer than she thinks she needs to be. But because the kiosks only take cash, she often resorts to staying in Lot 6, where all-day parking isn’t available.
“You would save money if you used cash, but a lot of people don’t have cash, so they end up paying in lot six or four in the pay by space ““ and getting tickets.” Lewis said.
But Fortier said that UCLA is moving more towards paying for allotted time with the construction of pay-by-space spots in Lot 6.
“We are doing pretty well considering the amount of people we have on campus,” Fortier said.
About one in five undergraduate commuters has a permit, while only one in every 25 resident hall undergraduates has one.
Rand said that one of the newest developments in parking efficiency is the building of credit card kiosks.
“Credit card capability for kiosks is now in progress. … We recognize that a lot of people use credit cards.” Rand said.