Guide to Student Parking at UCSC in Santa Cruz, CA

Parking at UCSC is a ridiculous hassle. There are so many cars on campus these days. Because of the overcrowding, TAPS won't sell permits to 1st or 2nd year students living in on-campus housing. Therefore, these students are not allowed to have their vehicles on campus M-F between early morning (around 7am) and 8:30pm unless parked in a metered space, which costs a quarter per 10 minutes.

Parking lots are still crowded despite this policy. At peak times, forget North Remote, and West Remote is often full plus a couple cars are likely there circling the lot like vultures. The only remote parking available during these times is at the East Remote lot. Oftentimes, this lot fills up as well. However, TAPS will open overflow lots. They also have parking attendants that will park your car for you when a space opens. East Remote is pretty far from West and Central campus, so that you will probably want take a bus if you're going any further than the bookstore. The whole process of parking and then catching a campus bus can be quite time consuming.

If you have class on the West side of campus during busy times, you can't rely on a remote permit for a parking space. If you're late and can scrounge up enough change, you can park at the meters. If all you have is a credit card and you absolutely can't be late for a class on Science Hill, at Baskin, or West Campus, you can park on the 2nd floor of the West Parking Structure. This covered parking will cost you, but a ticket will cost you a lot more.

I got really sick of paying for West campus parking, especially when I had already paid for a remote permit. At this point I started parking behind buildings and in 10-minute zones hoping I wouldn't get ticketed. I don't advise this method though, as the thought of getting a ticket is too distracting during class. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. If not, it results in a ticket of around $30 bucks or so, which can be worth it depending on how many times you've parked there before without getting caught.