University of California, Irvine

The University of California, Irvine is a public, coeducational university situated in suburban Irvine, California. It is one of ten University of California campuses and is commonly known as UCI or UC Irvine.

Transportation

Due to the facts that the city of Irvine is very suburban and that UCI students have little social motivation to secure on-campus housing, the majority of students are commuters. Additionally, dorming freshmen can purchase residential parking permits. These factors have created a huge daily volume of cars, creating a severe parking shortage; methods such as stack parking have had limited success to alleviate the situation. The usage of bikes and the student run shuttle service has done little help as the majority of the users of these are non-commuters, residents of on-campus or near campus housing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The parking permits for students that exist are:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• R - Residential
• S - Student Commuter
• P - Student Commuter Preferred
• F - Freshman Commuter

The parking permits for employees (faculty/staff) that exist are:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• C - Employee Commuter
• AR - Employee Reserved (these are similar to Employee Commuter, but have special allocated parking spaces)
• ?? - Employee Reserved Preferred
• X - Executive Permit (for Deans, the Chancellor, the Executive Vice Chancellor, and other high level management positions)
• CP - Carpool

There are also permits/spaces for motorcycles, special staff, and service vehicles. A special permit called "Nobel Parking Pass" is only given to Nobel Prize recipients and has access to any parking space on campus, except for possibly the service vehicle or disabled parking spaces.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cars are the most popular form of transportation, as well as a smattering of motorcycles and scooters. Bicycles are used mainly by residents of on-campus or near campus housing. Public transportation is used by a few students to commute, which is provided free of charge to the surrounding areas. The student run shuttle service is used by students to travel between the distantly located parts of campus; certain routes of the shuttle service cater to on-campus residents who live in communities located on the fringe of campus.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ground public transportation connecting is provided by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA); all the bus routes are available to the students for free. In this case, the student ID is used as an unlimited bus pass. This service is paid for by parking tickets at UCI, and, considering the volume of traffic and the resulting parking need that occurs at the campus daily, this is an easily workable arrangement. Other forms of transportation are available around UCI. UCI is located close to John Wayne Airport, a major Southern California hub. Although the city of Irvine has a train station that services both Amtrak and Metrolink lines, there are no direct bus routes to it. As a result, the Santa Ana Depot is the closest train station (in terms of total travel time).

Related Topics:
Amtrak - Metrolink - Santa Ana

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UCI is close to three freeways; these are the 405 (a major artery), the CA 55, and the CA 73 (which splits off southbound from the 405 and is a toll road south of the university). Both the proximity of the freeways and the large area of UCI help to create situations where either freeway can be a faster route, depending on the on-campus point of origin. The streets of Irvine have speed limits that range from 45 to 55 mph, making them conveniently fast during their non-peak hours. Traffic is notoriously endemic in the region, with peak hours consuming most of the late-afternoon and early night.

Related Topics:
405 - CA 55 - CA 73 - Toll road

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~