UC Berkeley – Parking & Transportation

Due to frequent medical issues and difficulty traveling a half-​mile to class, I brought my car up for the last month of the semester. I only needed a temporary parking permit for less than a month. I live and go to school here, but as I do not live within a letter-​coded region I am unable to get even a 14-​day visitors pass. Living within a certain radius of UC Berkeley, I am equally ineligible to get a student parking pass.
This means I currently am not legally allowed to park my car anywhere in the city of Berkeley (where I live and go to school) for more than two hours.
The entire office was unable to grant any exceptions and only suggested I park my car miles west of both my residence and classes. I spent hours reading and understanding parking rules and limitations in Berkeley, and it seems that an exception could easily be made for temporary visitors residing in close out-​of-​boundary areas. The office workers there either didn’t care to try helping me or they honestly didn’t understand how to work in a public service building.

Concern about Misleading Parking Signage at University of Cal
Everything you need to know about Cal Parking.
I visited the Bay Area from San Diego. I was visiting University of Cal for the first time. I pulled my car into a parking loop that is located on Oxford street and West Entrance on the edge of the campus. As I got out of my car on the street it said «C Sign for Restrictions». I walked over to the parking sign. On the top of this two part sign it said «UC Permit Required» M-​F 7am-​5pm. On the second sign It says «Public Parking». It also has Sunday listed under the Public Parking heading. Next to Sunday is the listing 9am-​2am. On this day it was a Sunday 11:30am. According to this very confusing sign I could park at this spot on a weekend.
When I returned from my car I noticed a yellow envelope on my window and also the three cars in front of me. What did we all do wrong? I quickly opened my ticket. What did I get a ticket for? Apparently I needed a permit for the area after all. The sign above the spot says «UC Permit Required needed M-​F 7am-​5pm». Public Parking on Sunday 9am-​2am. Did I miss something? I thought it said Public Parking?
I needed an explanation as to why I recieved a ticket in an area where no permit was required on Sunday. So I decided to visit the Parking and Transportation building. I was told by Ronald P. that I needed to purchase a parking pass. My question then is why did the ticket not say «Parking Pass required». My citation says nothing about a parking pass. There was no parking pass machine next to the parking area. Where would this parking pass come from? How about a sign that says UC Parking Pass required Monday-​Sunday. Non-​students need parking pass on weekends. How was a person from out of town be able to infer all of this information without proper signage? Shouldn’t a sign be able to tell me whether I can or can’t park in a spot 7 days a week?
I explained my frustration about this specific sign posted. I explained that posting a misleading sign that creates tickets from out of town people isn’t ethical. I also explained that this specific sign seems to get quite a bit of attention. After a few short google searches I was able to see that this sign isn’t an isolated case. I was able to find several cases similar to mine. Here is one case from Barry W.
Barry W– From San Francisco– It starts with Greedy Monster
I was even told by the cashier that the sign creates difficulty for them all the time. The misleading sign causes frustration and people come in frustrated to the visit the Parking and Transportation building all the time. Then your cashiers are left to be the middle man for a terribly worded sign.
I was told that nobody at the Cal Berkeley Parking and Transportation could do anything about my ticket. I was told to appeal online. I explained to Ronald P. that I had already appealed my citation the day before. I was given a rubber stamp denial of my ticket. Details listed in the denial had nothing to do with my ticket. I was told that the need for a permit was listed in the parking lot that I parked in. I wasn’t even in a parking lot. There was no parking pass machine. How could this form be for me? It had quite a bit of information most of it didn’t pertain to me at all. Also since telephone appeals are no longer accepted the majority of the frustration occurs at the Parking and Transportation building. The cashier asked me to explain how frustrated the cashiers are when they consistently have to deal with people who are upset about their ticket for this sign.
I was then told to contact Fred J and Seamus W. I am looking for someone to explain why I recieved this ticket. I was very careful when parking yet I still received this ticket. I would like an explanation as to why this sign is necessary. It is causing confusion in your Parking and Transportation system. It would be much easier to run a straightforward system where signs are clear. Then creating a «flawless flawed system» of misleading parking signs and a bogus email appeal system.
This sign needs to be replaced. The words public parking should not even be listed. If this location on the end of campus is continually receiving tickets then something is definitely wrong. I would appreciate some information for my citation. Since no one has been able to explain it to me yet I will continue to ask until someone can help me understand this particular parking sign. This sign still lives. There is still no resolution.

Greedy monster.
On a sunday afternoon, we came to Berkeley to checkout a few shops. We decide to stop by the campus to take a walk.
We parked on our entrance and the sign was very confusing whether we need to pay on Sunday or not. After half hour walk, we came back and saw a ticket. A few cars near by also got a ticket. It was a Sunday before xmas and there were very few cars out there.
We send in an appeal and it took a month to receive a No. I mean if you already made your mind to screw visitors, why bother wasting time to set up an appeal system.
Job well done !

I came here a couple of times because I have lost my bus pass a couple of times. They are very straight to the point. You pay the fee and you get a new bus pass.

I went to the Parking office today to apply for a motorcycle permit.
It’s my first time to be there and submit application. I read all the available instruction online to make sure I’ve got everything right.
After doing the paper work and paying the fee in the cashier, I asked that guy how do I use the «hooking card» on my motorcycle, then he discovered he got it wrong. He was extreme rude and said «I was watching him to do everything wrong without telling him». I filled the vehicle information in the part for «motorcycle» correctly. He didn’t get it and it becomes my mistake. How could I know what he was doing on the official paperwork procedures?
The office needs to train its employee properly.

1. I love the perimeter bus! I didn’t discover it picked up a block from my apartment until the last week of school, but it sure beats hiking up that huge hill to get to Evans! So the perimeter bus goes clockwise around campus, using Hearst, piedmont, bancroft, and shattuck. And comes really regularly. About every 12 minutes, I think.
2. I love the Davis bus! There’s a bus that runs twice daily to and from UC Davis and UC Berkeley. It picks up near West gate at Berkeley and in front of Shields library at UC Davis. I use it to get home to Sacramento from Berkeley. Only open to UC Berkeley and Davis affiliates. I think it could use a bit more publicity. But they updated the ticket system so that it’s all done online with a credit card. So you reserve your spot on the bus and you pay for it online, so there’s no guessing about whether or not you’ll get a seat.

It seems horrible of me to give them 1 star for being so great at what they do: issue tickets. How can anyone like Berkeley P&T, I do not know. But they’re good. REAL good… in terms of giving tickets when they are due.
I have only gotten 2 tickets from Berkeley P&T (relatively good compared to most Berkeley motorists I know) but… they have both been within 5 minutes of parking in a spot where I have not paid for those 5 minutes.
I just finished my tri tip plate at Brazil café. because our food came out 5 minutes longer than expected. lunch took longer than expected. I’m walking towards my car… I see the meter maid typing something on an electronic pad and I slowly run towards my car.
DAMN. too late.
They must have a contract with the devil to be able to know exactly when your meter expires. It’s really scary. If you’re in Berkeley and driving. don’t risk it. maybe it’s the hippies. they just don’t want you to drive and pollute. don’t try it.

Park anywhere on campus and expect to get a parking ticket, which you’ll have to go to this office to pay. If you don’t get a ticket, then that four-​leaf clover /​horseshoe /​leprechaun you’ve been carrying around has been doing its job…
I was going to give this place 1 star until I read the other reviewer’s reviews and remembered how great the drivers were. If this was just a review for the cool guys and gals who drive the buses, then this would be a five star review.
The P & T part on the other hand might as well be TP… that’s right, tee-​pee. The lines are always long and they don’t bother making any of the parking signs on the UC campus clear enough to actually help anyone. Well, the signs do help out the wallets of the UC system.

The two stars are for the few good drivers I’ve had who have been very enjoyable and good at their jobs.
NOW FOR THE HORROR STORY PART.
So I’m coming back from a trip out of town and I decide to take the campus shuttle back since it’ll drop me off right outside the gate instead of me having to lug my crap one block up a hill. And once this semester that has worked just fine. Tonight, however, was not my night.
I’m standing at the station on Shattuck with this girl who is also heading back up to northside. The first shuttle to come is a southside shuttle, and I, knowing a «to-​your-​door» shuttle was coming 3 minutes later which would get me back sooner, decided to wait for that one. HUGE MISTAKE APPARENTLY. On the website apparently there is this magical fairy text that talks about how «to-​your-​door» means «to-​your-​door unless you live in a dorm then get your ass on another shuttle you fool.»
When the shuttle arrives and I tell the driver I need to get to Foothill (don’t start me here, that’s another can of worms) I get lectured by the crabby old driver on how his shuttle doesn’t normally go there blah blah I should have got on the southside shuttle blah blah but he’ll take me anyway since the northside shuttle isn’t running. That information of course, isn’t made available unless you call 10 minutes after that shuttle was supposed to arrive and you’re standing there in the cold being told to wait for the next shuttle which could pretty much arrive whenever.
Now I’m actually on the damn bus and the girl who was at my stop gets dropped off and now it’s my turn since I’m only like 4 blocks away. The driver then proceeds to stop a block away to inform me that I could either get out here and walk or he could drive me to East Gate where I could transfer to the other shuttle. A portion of my fees go to fund this damn service and I cannot receive the service of being driven ONE FREAKING BLOCK to the gate of my complex. It took every fiber of will in my body to not start screaming like a rabies patient at the driver but I withheld. However, if I ever happen to run across the fellow again, I can assure you that I will deliver a tongue-​lashing to behold. You’ll probably be able to hear it in Oakland. Yes I am crazy but that’s not the point here is it?
So in conclusion,
+1 star for having somewhat decent schedule
+1 star for the pleasant drivers I’ve encounterd
+1 star for not being as cramped as AC Transit (at times)
+1 star for being clean
–1 star for never explaining what routes will be running when and leaving it up to chance
–1 star for «to-​your-​door» meaning «some doors are more worthy than others.» seriously ridiculous.
and to that driver: minus a billion stars because I am not afraid of you and no longer pity your Sunday-​night-​bus-​driving existence for making me feel as if it was some great act of charity and boundless benevolence to drive me even close to where I needed to go. you, sir, are a regular Angelina Jolie.
and to anyone that finishes this: 5 stars! how did you survive/​tell me your secrets because really I think I stopped making sense a looooong time ago!

The main problem with them is that they are really bad about getting information out to users. The website is never updated with important information. For example, the «P» shuttle has been only running every 24 minutes for a couple months now, but no notice on the website!
And I had so many problems with the «N» shuttle never showing up last year, until I figured out that you have to call BearWalk. And they tell you things like «the N shuttle has a scheduled break every night at this time and that time.» Why don’t they update the schedule online with that?
It ain’t hard to change a website!
Finally I managed to reach the supervisor one day and asked him about changing the website. Instead he gave me this pie in the sky idea how they are going to put little notice lights at each stop to tell you when the bus is coming. Yea right! Not in my (school) lifetime. And then he gave all sorts of other lame excuses about not having enough drivers, sometimes they don’t come in, etc. Well if you don’t have enough drivers, than change the schedule to reflect that. If they don’t show up to work, hire someone else. Ain’t no shortage of people looking for jobs.
Every time you are waiting for a night shuttle you better call them to make sure it actually is coming, because they always have all sorts of scheduled and unscheduled breaks. It’s REALLY inconvenient to be stuck outside in the dark, cold, and sometimes rain waiting an extra half an hour for a bus that might or might not come.