Due to the facts that the city of Irvine is very suburban and that UCI students have little social motivation to secure
on-campus housing, the majority of students are commuters. Additionally, dorming freshmen can purchase residential parking
permits. These factors have created a huge daily volume of cars, creating a severe parking shortage called "UCI Parking"; methods
such as stack parking have had limited success to alleviate the situation. The usage of bikes and the student run shuttle service
has done little help as the majority of the users of these are non-commuters, residents of on-campus or near campus housing.On a trivial note, the parking permits that exist are:
R - Residential
S - Student Commuter
C - Staff Commuter
AR - Reserved (these are similar to commuter, but have special allocated parking spaces)
There are also permits/spaces for motorcycles, special staff, and service vehicles. A special permit called "Nobel Parking Pass"
is only given to Nobel Prize recipients and has access to any parking space on campus, except for possibly the service vehicle or
disabled parking spaces.Cars are the most popular form of transportation, as well as a smattering of motorcycles and scooters. Bicycles are used
mainly by residents of on-campus or near campus housing. Public transportation is used by a few students to commute. The student
run shuttle service is used by students to travel between the distantly located parts of campus; certain routes of the shuttle
service cater to on-campus residents who live in communities located on the fringe of campus.Ground public transportation connecting is provided by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA); all the bus routes
are available to the students for free. In this case, the student ID is used as an unlimited bus pass. This service is paid for
by parking tickets at UCI, and, considering the volume of traffic and the resulting parking needs that occurs at the campus
daily, this is a very, very possible arrangement.Other forms of transportation are available around UCI. UCI is located close to John Wayne Airport, a major Southern
California hub. Also the city of Irvine has a train station, which is convenient to use to travel in between counties. Another
form of transportation available in the area, although sparingly used, is the taxi, which is used mainly by travelers going to
and from the airport.UCI is conveniently close to two freeways, the 405, a major
artery, and the 73, initially a freeway which splits off from the 405 to the south and becoming a toll road after passing the
university. The proximity of the freeways and the large area of UCI creates situations where one freeway might be faster than the
other depending on where the starting point on campus is. The streets of Irvine have speed limits that range from 45-55 mph,
making them conveniently fast during their non-peak hours. Traffic is notoriously endemic in the region, with peak hours
consuming most of the late-afternoon and early night.