Transportation and Parking Services announced a $1-a-month increase for most parking permit fees in 2009-10, the first increase in four years.

The news comes about a month after TAPS raised the fine for most parking citations to $40, a $10 increase (including a $3 surcharge that goes to the state).

The good news is, TAPS is writing fewer tickets and issuing more courtesy notices as part of a strategy to inform first-time visitors of campus parking rules, TAPS Director Cliff Contreras said.

He noted that first-time visitors may sometimes be uncertain where they can park. In many of these cases, he said, TAPS issues courtesy notices instead of citations.

TAPS also has done the following to help drivers avoid tickets: installed clear, customer-friendly signs (with streamlined language and bigger type); upgraded parking ticket dispensers (so that all of them now take credit cards as well as cash); and started selling prepaid COMET personal parking meters (for people who regularly use metered spaces).

“Collectively, these measures have resulted in higher compliance with campus parking regulations such that, in the past year, we issued the lowest number of parking citations in 12 years,” Contreras said in a directive to the campus community.

He gave the 2007-08 citation count as 28,056, down from 30,418 in 2006-07, for a decline of almost 8 percent. The downward trend is continuing in 2008-09, with 23,319 citations through April (or an estimated 27,983 on an annualized basis, through June 30).

For the 12-year period ending in 2007-08, TAPS issued the most citations in 2001-02 — 39,791. The next year’s total was 39,486, and after that, the citation count dropped to the 30,000 range, coinciding with TAPS’ decision to issue courtesy notices.

“The courtesy program helps to complement the wonderful experience that people have when they first visit this great campus,” Contreras said.

In 2007-08, TAPS officers broke the 4,000 mark for the first time in courtesy notices, issuing 4,142, up more than 20 percent from 3,442 in 2006-07.

“Obviously we’re not bringing in revenue from courtesy notices, but the reality is we wish we didn’t have to write any tickets,” Contreras said.

The parking fine increase, which took effect May 1, was the first in three years.

In allocating the $10 extra from each ticket, $7 supports increased costs for enforcement, infrastructure and the campus’s Alternative Transportation Program.

The remaining $3 goes to the state, which started assessing the surcharge on Jan. 1, as authorized by Senate Bill 1407. The surcharge applies to every parking fine in the state, to raise money to build, renovate and lease trial court facilities.

Parking permit fees

In advising permit holders of new rates effective July 1, Contreras attributed the increases to “new costs that were not previously charges to TAPS (such as energy and employer contributions to employee benefits and retirement), as well as cost increases for existing campus support services that TAPS utilizes.”

For most employees who drive to work, the $1-a-month increase will boost the cost of an A permit to $48 a month or $576 a year (up from $564) and the cost of a C permit to $39 a month or $468 a year (up from $456).

Contreras said people wishing to cut costs may want to consider switching from an A permit to a C permit ($108 savings) or from a C to an L ($204 savings). L permits are good in five lots on the perimeter of campus, and bicycle parking is available in the lots or nearby — giving people the option of keeping a bike on campus, to get to and from their autos.

TAPS also provides lower-priced carpool permits, and assistance in matching interested commuters based on where they live and their work hours.

For a two-person carpool, an A permit will cost each person $18 a month ($216 a year) and a C permit will cost each person $14 a month ($168 a year).

For a three-person carpool, an A permit will cost each person $12 a month ($144 a year) and a C permit will cost each person $10 a month ($120 a year).

The permit charge for chancellors, vice chancellors and deans is automatically double the A permit rate, which means their monthly rate is going up $2, to $96 a month or $1,152 a year (up from $1,128).

The daily permit rate is staying the same at $6.

More information

TAPS: Online, telephone (530) 752-TAPS (8277) and e-mail taps@ucdavis.edu.

People interested in carpools or other alternative transportation should contact Mary Maffly, transportation demand and marketing coordinator, (530) 752-6453 or mlmaffly@ucdavis.edu.