UCSC students pay the highest transportation fee in the UC system and contribute over $10 million to the Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) office each year. But for multiple years, students found TAPS’ services to be consistently unreliable, causing them to miss or be late to classes and work. Students also raised safety concerns for several years after experiencing bus accidents, broken windows and a bus that caught on fire. Student concerns were not validated until the publication of the 2024 California Highway Patrol report that determined UCSC transit operations to be an “Imminent Danger to Public Safety.”

In campus wide elections in 2023 and 2024, over 90% of student voters called for greater budget transparency and agreed/strongly agreed that TAPS needs to do a better job providing parking and bus/shuttle services for students and agreed to support a measure that gave students the power to hold TAPS accountable to student concerns and needs. In 2025, Measure 82 was initiated by the Student Union Governance Board (SUBG) in partnership with the Student Union Assembly, Graduate Student Association, and student organizations. In Spring 2025, the measure passed with overwhelming support from the student body.

In Fall 2025, the founding organizations (SUGB, SUA, GSA) immediately started working on setting up operations to serve the campus community. An interim commission completed fair hire processes to bring student staff on board and to appoint commissioners. In Winter Quarter, the commission began meeting with faculty with expertise in transportation systems and democratic engagement. The commission also organized its first campus forum with TAPS administrators. At the forum, TAPS presented and answered questions about the campus proposal to raise parking permit fees and to add restrictions to parking. Please see our “Updates” section to read the VEST Commission’s response to the campus parking plan.

Dear Chancellor Larive,

On January 30th, students were shocked to receive a campus wide email announcing a new parking plan, mandating a 10% increase to parking permit fees followed by annual increases of between 7% and 6% through 2036 and imposing additional restrictions on parking. This proposal should not advance because the administration has not demonstrated procedural legitimacy, evidentiary sufficiency, or equitable justification. In fact, students, staff and faculty have already surfaced serious errors, omissions and troubling implications.

Yes, students want improvements to parking and transportation at UCSC. We need and deserve a transportation system that truly supports our academic success, growth and agency. However, we already pay the highest transportation fees in the UC system, contributing over $10 million to TAPS annually. We already are being asked to pay more for dining, more for housing, more for fees, and more for administration, while we experience cuts to the resources that support our education and campus life. Any plan that seeks to add more costs to students must demonstrate thorough research and include the active participation of students, staff and faculty in its development.

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