By Jenny Blake
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]
After months of transportation uncertainty, BruinGo! riders can
now relax for at least another year.
The BruinGo! bus program will continue for the 2002-03 school
year despite funding uncertainties, according to a statement made
Wednesday by director of Transportation Services Mark Stocki.
The program ““ which allows passengers to ride for free
with the swipe of a BruinCard ““ has recently generated
concern among current users and the administration regarding its
continuation.
While there are benefits of the BruinGo! program, such as free
fares for riders and reduced traffic and air pollution, it has not
fulfilled its original purpose ““ to lower campus parking
usage.
“The hypothetical potential parking savings from this
program are insufficient to support any substantial portion of the
program,” according to an analysis of BruinGo! by independent
transportation consultant company Crain & Associates. “We
would recommend that other funding sources be pursued.”
Chancellor Albert Carnesale approved the continuation of the
program earlier this week, but also acknowledged that problems
still remain about financial support.
“The question we need to address now is not whether or not
it is a good idea for people to take public transportation, but
rather who should pay for it and how,” Carnesale said.
“It is important for people to realize that the money that is
paying for BruinGo! is not state money or money that would
otherwise be available.”
Parking fees are currently supporting the BruinGo! program.
Suggestions for future funding sources include self-imposed student
fees, user fees and potential grant funding, Stocki said.
Carnesale said the next step in the decision to continue
BruinGo! is to decide who is willing to pay for the program.
“The entire UCLA community needs to decide how we are
going to pay for this program over the long term,” Carnesale
said. “I do not believe it is fair for those who pay parking
fees to subsidize BruinGo! completely since it is clear that those
who use the program would ride the bus anyway.”
Among faculty, staff and students, only about 35 percent of
parkers felt that permit revenues should be used to fund the
BruinGo! program over the long term, according to a survey
conducted by UCLA Parking Services in March.
Half of the respondents did, however, say they would support
raised parking costs in order to pay for the program on a
short-term basis until other funding methods are established.
Current funding is not suffering because of the number of people
who use the BruinGo! program, but rather the type of people that
use it.
Ridership data shows that most BruinGo! users would take the bus
even if their fares were not subsidized. In addition, many of the
recorded swipes are not commute related, and thus do not reduce
campus traffic, according to the BruinGo! analysis report.
“Transit ridership increases that are not for commutes to
and from campus have little to no effect on parking demand,”
the report said. “Thus Parking Services has no savings to
offset the potential cost of funding these transit
boardings.”
On an average weekday, BruinGo! pays for over 9,300 boardings,
but the reduced parking demand only equates to about 221 spaces,
according to the report.
This year’s program will continue through the end of the
quarter on June 14, and next year’s will resume at the start
of fall quarter on Sept. 16.