Cliff Contreras says he understands campus commuters’ frustration over rising parking rates–he pays to park here, too. But not even Contreras, the manager of parking services, can keep parking-permit prices from going up next month.

UC Davis’ parking services are entirely supported by parking user fees. And as parking-service costs rise, Contreras said, so too must permit rates.

Beginning July 1, monthly rates will be $41 for A permits, $33 for C permits and $16 for motorcyclists’ M permits–each a $3 increase over 1999-2000.

Commuters who use J or L permits to park in designated remote lots by the Recreation Pool, Health Sciences Complex, Dairy Cattle Facility and Putah Creek Lodge will see their rates increase by $1 to $17 a month.

In addition, those remote-lot permits all will have the same letter designation beginning July 1. Because the two permits are so similar, the J permit is being discontinued and replaced by the L permit.

Visitor parking passes will increase from $3 to $4 a day.

Car- and vanpoolers, on the other hand, will be spared permit price increases. Carpool parking fees range from $6 to $14 depending on the number of people and where they park. The monthly vanpool-parking rate is $23.

The parking permit rate increases are the last in a series of four annual increases needed to cover the debt service for a parking structure and an adjacent surface lot being built on south campus across from the arboretum. The 885-space lot is scheduled to open in August, followed by the 715-space, three-story garage in September.

"We certainly would like not to have to raise our rates," Contreras said. "Unfor-tunately, because we’re a self-supporting operation, we have to."

Further permit increases loom on the horizon as planning begins for another parking structure south of the Life Sciences Addition, where lots 40 and 41 are currently located. However, Contreras said, exactly when and how much rates would go up has yet to be determined.

The Academic Senate created a committee earlier this year to look into parking costs and other transportation issues. In a message read at the Senate’s last Representative Assembly meeting on June 6, the committee said it has met about 15 times and had three discussions with Vice Chancellor for Administration Janet Hamilton, who oversees Transportation and Parking Services. The committee expects to issue its report next fall.

"Parking is near and dear to everybody’s heart," Contreras said. "You take the top 10 issues on this campus, and parking is likely to be among them."

Notices he sent to the campus’s more than 12,000 parking-permit holders encouraged them to consider alternative transportation.

About 700 people ride to campus in registered carpool, vanpool or transitpool programs, according to Ann Davies-Nesbitt, alternative transportation coordinator.

Carpool participation typically drops each spring, when more people ride bikes, then increases again in the fall, she said. Carpoolers save hundreds of dollars a year.

Commuters can buy bus passes from Transportation and Parking Services at discounts up to 40 percent.

Moreover, individuals who take a bus, carpool or vanpool to campus can pay for these services on a pretax/payroll deduction basis, at added savings.

Transportation and Parking Services also can help commuters find carpool partners via direct access to regional rideshare databases. For more information, call (530) 752-6453.