Parking and Transportation at UC Irvine
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As a result of its location and student composition, the majority of undergraduates at the University of California, Irvine, are commuters. The issue of parking and transportation on campus has, therefore, been a significant issue for UCI administrators, who have tried to accommodate campus growth through a number of parking and transportation programs.
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[edit] Commuting
UCI is close to three freeways: Interstate 405 (a major artery), Highway CA 55, and Highway CA 73 (which splits off southbound from the 405 and is a toll road south of the university). The streets of Irvine have speed limits that range from 45 to 55 mph, making them conveniently fast during their non-peak hours.
Motorcycles and scooters also have some popularity, and spaces for these vehicles are usually available. Bicycles, skateboards, and rollerblads are used mainly by residents of on-campus or near campus housing, with UCI's extensive bike paths and trails faciliting their usage. Irvine also has a good system of bicycle paths, including the San Diego Creek Bicycle Path which facilitates bicycle transportation to and from Tustin, Newport Beach, and Irvine fun. Other unusual transit methods such as segways, razors, and unicycles have also been sighted.
[edit] Public Transportation
The ASUCI Express Shuttle is a free mass transit service popular with students traveling between distant parts of campus. ASUCI claims that this is the only student-run shuttle in the University of California system. There are currently four main shuttle routes, which share a central bus stop in front of the Administration building. Shuttle wait times average 10-15 minutes, depending on passenger demand, route, and traffic volume. In recent years, increasing demand on an aging system led to longer shuttle wait times, to the discomfort of its riders. In early 2006 students approved Measure S, a long-term development program aimed at replacing the shuttle fleet with larger, environmentally-friendly vehicles and developing bus stops with more benches, route maps, and shade space.
UCI also offers a regional vanpool service, as well as shuttles between the College of Medicine and the UCI Medical Center in Orange. Arrangements and scheduling for these services should be organized in advance.
County-wide public transportation is provided by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). All OCTA bus routes are available to students for free through the U-Pass program, which allows a UCI student ID to double as a bus pass. This service is paid for by parking tickets at UCI. OCTA buses share a central bus stop facility on the UCI side of Culver Drive, under Watson Bridge.
The city of Irvine has a train station that services both Amtrak and Metrolink lines, with connects to OCTA. The Tustin Metrolink station is approximately 8 miles away from UCI, but offers a more regular bus schedule. As a result, the Santa Ana Depot and Tustin Station are the closest train stations (in terms of bus travel time) for Amtrak and Metrolink respectively.
UCI is also located close to John Wayne Airport, a major Southern California hub. This is often the disembarking point for UCI students who reside in northern California or other regions of the country. Taxi services or car pickups can be easily arranged to UCI, with a commute time of ten minutes.
[edit] Trivia
- A special parking permit called "Nobel Parking Pass" is only given to Nobel Prize recipients and has access to any parking space on campus, except for the service vehicle or disabled parking spaces. An official sign making a Nobel faculty parking space may be found in the School of Physical Sciences parking lot, between the Multipurpose Science and Technology Building and the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall.
- The streets of Irvine directly to the north of UCI are named after Ivy League universities, such as Stanford, Yale, Cornell, and Harvard. The streets in the southern part of the UCI campus that contact University Research Park are named after scientific terminology (e.g. Theory and Innovation). The streets in UCI's University Hills are named after prestigious scientists and academians (e.g. Mendel, Aristotle, Cezanne), mythological figures (e.g. Orion, Olympus), and celestial terms (e.g. Sunshine, Moonlight). Main campus thoroughfares are named after central figures in the university's development (e.g. William Pereira and Jack Peltason).
- Most street signs are navy blue and bear a picture of UCI's famed mascot, the anteater.
- The Bison Avenue entrance to UC Irvine is noted for having two impressive large stone walls that have "University of California, Irvine" in metal lettering, along with the university's seal. This carefully manicured entrance was intended as an alternative thoroughfare to Campus Drive, which becomes heavily congested during peak hours. A stone wall with the same design was recently built on the corner of Campus and Culver Drive.
