Friday, May 10, 2019

After maintaining the same parking rates for the last four years, the University of Washington is increasing base parking rates for the Seattle campus by 12% for the 2019-20 fiscal year.  The rates were developed in cooperation with the University Transportation Committee and other campus stakeholders, and approved by the UW Board of Regents on May 9. The rates are inclusive of taxes and fees and are effective as of July 1, 2019. 

The tables below show the new rates for commonly used parking products.

Parking product New rate as of July 1
Single occupancy vehicle (SOV) $168/month
Value parking (E18) $135/month
Pay per use parking (PPUP) $8.40/day
Individual commuter tickets (ICTs) $8.40/day
Student parking $6.75/day
Daily value lot (E01) $6.75/day
Visitor parking New rate as of July 1
0-30 minutes $2
Hourly $4
Daily $17

For complete details on the new rates and on the new parking citation fine schedule that was also approved by the Board of Regents on May 9, please see the following documents:

What parking rates cover and how they’re set

Parking spaces on the UW campus are limited as part of the Campus Master Plan approved by the City of Seattle, in which the City and University agreed to encourage the use of carpooling, mass transit and other commuting options in order to reduce single occupancy vehicle trips. Parking rates reflect this scarcity as well as other market factors and the need to pay for parking lot and garage maintenance. A portion of parking revenues also goes to support the U-PASS program and shuttle programs for the Seattle campus.

Parking rates were last raised in July of 2015. The 2019-20 rates were developed in cooperation with the University Transportation Committee, which is made up of student, staff, and faculty representatives. A public hearing on the rate proposals was held on April 26. The Board of Regents approved the new rate schedule on May 9. The 2019-20 rates are effective as of July 1.

Answers to frequently asked questions

  1. Are U-PASS rates going up?
    No. The rate increase affects parking products (including bike parking) only.
     
  2. What happened to the lower PPUP rate if I parked 4 days or less per pay period? Why are ICT rates going up so much?
    The former two-tiered pricing for PPUP is going away as part of a product overhaul to simplify pricing and make possible an upcoming software transition. ICTs are priced to match the daily PPUP rate, with ICTs available in non-gated lots and PPUP used in gated garages and lots. At $8.40 a day, both rates are still half the cost of visitor parking and significantly cheaper than the average at nearby non-UW parking lots ($13.89/day).   
     
  3. Why are we moving to new software?
    Our existing parking software was custom-built for the UW more than 20 years ago. The new off-the-shelf software we’re moving to will allow us to take advantage of more recent parking technology, such as the ability to pay for parking with your cell phone. It does not support having two different prices for the same product, however. Since we currently have more than 50 different parking products, and since variable pricing for PPUP has been a source of customer confusion as well, we are using the software move as an opportunity to simplify our parking product line.
     
  4. What will the cheapest parking rate on campus be?
    • $6.75 a day for E01 and E18 (the lots just south of U Village), or $4 a day for E03 & E04 (east of the golf range).
    • Fulltime carpool permits will be the equivalent of $8.40 a day, or $4.20 each for two people and $2.80 each with 3 people
    • Vanpools park for free on campus and U-PASS holders get a subsidy to join a vanpool
    • Night and swing shift parking rates remain lower ($2.80 for nights, $4.20 for swing)
    • Student residents and commuters will also pay the equivalent of $6.75 a day 
       
  5. Are football parking rates going up? What about at other sports events?
    Football parking rates are set by UW Athletics and are not being raised in 2019. Other sports events fall under our general event rates and are being raised to $11 or $17, depending on the size of the event and the parking location.

Got even more questions? Download our FAQ.

About Transportation Services

Transportation Services supports the 90,000 people who come to the Seattle campus each day. In addition to 12,200 parking spaces and 3.4 million square feet of lots and garages, transportation staff also administer the popular U-PASS transit program, five shuttle services and nearly 10,000 bike spaces. Staff also provide daily help to visitors entering campus, including at the more than 160 events held on campus a year.