In an email to parking permit holders today (May 7), Transportation Services, or TAPS, announced that it will raise fees $5 a month for most faculty and staff permits effective July 1, the first increases for employee permits since 2017.

TAPS also announced permit holders will be assessed a new fee of $10 a month to use the campus’s electric vehicle charging stations.

The CH parking permit (available to the chancellor and his designees) will cost $10 a month more, for a total of $120 a month for a long-term permit (six or more months) or $130 a month for short term. Policy sets CH fees at double the A rates.

The $5-a-month increase applies to all other permits. They include the following (listed here with the new monthly fees for long-term permits of six months or longer):

• A — $60
• C — $50
• L — $30
• M (motorcycle) — $30
• Carpool A — two people, $26 each; three people, $20 each
• Carpool C — two people, $22 each; three people, $16 each
• Vanpool GP — $35

Zero charge still applies to the DSA (disabled) permit. Daily visitor permits will cost $10, up $1.

The rate increases will fund the growing costs associated with the maintenance and operation of campus lots, roads and paths, including stack parking at the most impacted lots, according to TAPS.

“UC Davis is not building new parking outside of the (veterinary) district to solve the campus’s parking challenges,” TAPS Director Cliff Contreras said. “Instead, we’re going to invest in transportation programs and road and pathway improvements that get fewer people driving to campus alone, and make it safer for everyone to move about campus once they’re here.”

TAPS will email permit renewal information for those on payroll deduction by June, as well as information on accessing the electric vehicle charging stations.

More information, including an FAQ and a full rate table, is posted on the TAPS website.

Transfer admits to visit Friday

Transfer Decision UC Davis is scheduled this Friday (May 10), offering admitted transfer students the opportunity to learn more about the university as they decide whether to enroll.

About 3,500 people are expected — admitted students and accompanying family members and friends — and many of them are likely going to want to park near the event’s information center (opening at 8 a.m. on Hutchison Field) and The Pavilion (venue for the official welcome at 9 a.m.), both on the west side of the main campus. Thus, faculty and staff should be prepared for more cars than normal vying for spaces in The Pavilion garage, Lot 25 (in front of the ARC), Lot 30 (behind the Rec Pool) and Lot 35 (Student Health and Wellness Center).

Transfer Decision UC Davis, organized by Undergraduate Admissions, includes tours, information sessions on programs and resources, and discussions with current students. Decision UC Davis for admitted freshmen was held April 6.

Last week to respond to library survey

Faculty and other researchers have just over a week left to respond to a library survey to help inform strategic planning. Survey topics include  the changing practices in scholarly publication, and library support for teaching, instruction, patient care and research.

The survey is for Academic Senate faculty, Academic Federation personnel, graduate and professional students, and post-doctoral researchers. Follow-up emails are set to go out this week to people who have not yet completed the survey. The deadline is midnight Wednesday, May 15.

“The library doesn’t do surveys like this very often, given the size of our clientele, so it’s important that we hear from faculty and researchers across UC Davis now,” said MacKenzie Smith, university librarian and vice provost of Digital Scholarship.

Survey response as of last week stood at 9 percent for all faculty and researchers, and 11 percent for all graduate and professional students. Many departments remained completely unrepresented among the survey respondents.

Cool Campus Challenge results

UC Davis finished strong in the top six among UC campuses and UC headquarters in the 2019 Cool Campus Challenge, the campus Office of Sustainability reported today (May 7).

“Thank you again for all your actions during the Cool Campus Challenge last month,” the office said in an email to participants, noting that they recorded roughly 15,000 actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions — and achieved the equivalent reduction of 1.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide. “Way to go, Aggies!”

Here are the final UC Davis team and individual winners for the challenge:

• Top individual (lab user) — Emily Dong
• Top individual (non-lab user) — Arishneel Ram
• Top overall team — Admin IT
• Top campus lab — UCD BEE Lab
• Top ASUCD unit — CoHo Cool Beans
• Top registered student organization — Climate Reality Project
• Top residence hall — Madrone in the Zone

The email ended with an invitation to challenge participants to sign up for Office of Sustainability email list, to get occasional news, job announcements and updates.

The challenge ended with UC Berkeley, UC Merced and UC San Francisco among the coolest campuses. Read the UC news release

Space availability in Davis schools

The Davis Joint Unified School District has asked Dateline to get the word out to staff and faculty about space availability in kindergarten through 12th grade for out-of-district students — that is, if you commute to campus from another district, you could enroll your children in Davis schools.

“We generally have not advertised because spaces were limited, but we anticipate a growing number of open seats each year that we hope to fill with students who are not Davis residents,” said Maria Clayton, public information representative.

More information is available on the district’s webpage for “Prospective Families.”

Spare the Air: Unitrans sets 15-day limit

Unitrans, the UC Davis and city of Davis transit system, will offer free rides on a limited number of Spare the Air days through summer.

Air quality officials issue Spare the Air alerts in an effort to reduce auto emissions. People are encouraged to forego driving, and to take public transit if they must travel.

Up until last summer, Unitrans lent encouragement by canceling fares on every Spare the Air day. But, in mid-August, after a spate of such days, the transit system announced that it could no longer afford to forego cash fares on an unlimited number of days.

The cap took effect Aug. 27, by which time 19 Spare the Air days had been called since the Spare the Air season began May 1, including 15 days in a row, July 27-Aug. 10, during which time wildfire smoke played a significant factor in the region’s poor air quality.

High temperatures also exacerbate the region’s air quality: Heat and sunlight react with emissions from autos and other sources, resulting in ground-level ozone — or smog.

The Sacramento region finished the 2018 season with 20 Spare the Air days in all — three more than 2016 and 2017, and double the average since 2001.

Unitrans, one of the last transit systems in the region to provide free rides on Spare the Air days, will continue to do its part on Spare the Air days, just not an unlimited number — setting a cap of 15 days this year.

Police Accountability Board meetings

The UC Davis Police Accountability Board, or PAB, invites members of our campus and greater community to the board’s quarterly public meetings from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 15. Learn more about the board’s work and how to file complaints, and raise any issues or concerns you may have. The meeting format is informal, and attendees are invited to bring their lunches.

There will be two simultaneous meetings — one on the Davis campus and one on the Sacramento campus — with PAB representatives at each:

• Davis campus — Garrison Room, Memorial Union (second floor)
• Sacramento Health campus — 3103 Education Building

Follow Dateline UC Davis on Twitter.