Campus of The University of California, Irvine - Parking and Transportation

Parking and Transportation

The city of Irvine is predominantly suburban and on-campus housing is limited for non-freshmen, thus making most UCI students vehicular commuters. Additionally, undergraduates living on campus can purchase residential parking permits. These factors, plus a location in one of Orange County's most concentrated urban areas and transportation hubs (near the El Toro Y and Orange Crush), have created a huge daily volume of cars within the vicinity.

Parking options are available to the nearly 50% of students who live near or on campus. Commuter students have a number of permit options which may be bought on a daily, weekly, or quarterly basis. Preferred parking permits allow students to park closer to campus and generally provide more stalls to park in. However, the preferred permits cost more and sell out quickly at the beginning of each quarter. UCI divides up its parking lot into six zones. Commuters have the option of buying a permit for a specific zone. They are required to park in that zone until 3 pm. However, they may park at any of the zones after 3 pm. This is done to prevent the overcrowding of one zone during peak hours. Once on campus a shuttle service, known as Anteater Express, is provided to transport them around campus and parking lots. In addition, the shuttles run from many off-campus housing areas.

UC Irvine's Transportation and Distribution Services is pursuing measures to reduce vehicle traffic, including policies, incentive programs, and physical improvements to promote greater pedestrian circulation, bicycle and scooter use, carpools and vanpools, use of public transportation, and more effective integration of public transit routes with the campus. The main objective of the Transportation and Distribution Services is to encourage people to leave their vehicles at home by offering subsidized public transportation and ways to get around the campus without a car. Additionally, parking is zoned so that the greatest number of people can park in the fewest number of stalls; a concept called shared parking. Because of efforts to reduce vehicles on campus, new lots and structures do not need to be built. New lots and structures are funded through parking permit sales and their construction paves over open spaces. Because parking is efficiently used at all times, your permit rates stay at one of the lowest rates of all the UCs and UCI remains a campus with an enviable amount of open space. There is also complimentary Holiday Shuttle program for all UCI affiliates is successfully reducing traffic to John Wayne Airport and the Irvine Train Station during the busy Thanksgiving and Winter Break travel periods, taking hundreds of UCI passengers to their travel connections. All in all, these measures would also improve air quality, reduce traffic noise, and lessen demand for campus parking facilities.