[Published: June 21, 2020; Updated: Aug. 20, 2020]

With parking enforcement set to resume at Stanford’s main campus and Stanford Redwood City on Wednesday, July 1, parking permits are now available for purchase in the online ordering system. 

In the interest of customer safety, visitor and hourly parking purchases are transitioning to a contactless process. Additional details about the change can be found near the end of this article.

If you need to park: Purchase a new permit as of July 1

To avoid potential citations as of July 1, commuters and residents who plan to park, including former carpoolers, must purchase a new ‘A,’ ‘C,’ ‘C-SRWC,’ ‘Z,’ ‘MC,’ or resident parking permit in the online ordering system. New permits must be purchased by almost all commuters and residents, even if they never canceled their permit during shelter-in-place.  

We have developed resources to help with your commute decisions as the campus restart process moves ahead:

Previously purchased parking permits expire on June 30

While most customers returned their permits when shelter-in-place orders were enacted in March, a small  percentage did not. No charges were assessed to these individuals for the months of April, May, and June, but they would have been subject to parking permit fees as of July 1. 

To avoid non-refundable charges for those unaware of their permit status or unable to take action prior to the return of parking permit requirements, active ‘A,’ ‘C,’ ‘C-SRWC,’ ‘Z,’ ‘MC,’ and resident parking permits have been adjusted to expire on June 30.

Our Why Must I Repurchase a Parking Permit? page provides an explanation in greater detail.

Stanford’s Commute Club program is currently unavailable

Since many employees continue to work remotely on a part-time or full-time basis, we are unable to reinstate Stanford’s Carpool permit and Clean Air Cash programs at this time. However, free transit passes, including Caltrain’s Go Pass, VTA’s SmartPass, AC Transit’s EasyPass, and SamTrans’ monthly pass continue to be valid for eligible commuters.  

This impacts carpoolers and Clean Air Cash members in the following ways:

  • Carpools
    • All carpool permits have been returned, carpool groups closed, and carpool members unenrolled from the carpool program.
    • Former carpoolers must purchase a commuter permit as of July 1, if they intend to drive to campus.
    • Free or reduced-cost permits and reserved carpool spaces are not available, but you may informally share the cost of commuter permits and expenses. To do this, one person purchases the permit and the carpool partner(s) split the cost of the permit and related commuting costs among themselves and not through the system.
    • We continue to provide a Stanford subsidy for those using the Scoop carpooling app.
  • Clean Air Cash
    • All Clean Air Cash members have been unenrolled from the program. 

Vanpools must complete a new vanpool form

We are developing updated processes for our vanpool program. We will follow up with vanpools directly and are asking vanpool coordinators to fill out this form as a first step. 

Please refer to our Parking Permit Reinstatement: Updates for Carpools and Vanpools page for additional information.

Contactless parking for visitors

As of July 1, visitor and hourly parking permits are transitioning to a contactless process through the ParkMobile app. Pay stations at visitor lots are being taken offline to protect campus visitors and avoid the touching of shared surfaces that cannot be adequately disinfected throughout the day.

For information, please refer to our How to Purchase Visitor Parking page.

If you are an undergraduate student who left your vehicle on campus [Updated Aug. 20]

Stanford Transportation has identified vehicles left on campus by undergraduate students when they were asked to vacate campus in March. Due to the announcement that almost all undergraduate instruction will be delivered remotely during the autumn quarter, we have extended the parking-permit exception for these vehicles through Jan. 11, 2021. These vehicles can remain where they are and will not receive a citation through Jan. 11, 2021, which is the currently scheduled start of the winter quarter.

As we draw closer to that date, we will announce next steps. Those next steps will depend on public health conditions and the university’s ability to invite students to campus for in-person instruction.

All other vehicles not on our exempted list of vehicles are subject to citation if they are parked on campus without a valid, active parking permit during enforcement hours.

Please note that this exception does not apply to vehicles parked in special zones. Parking restrictions in disabled parking, red zones, fire lanes, 'D' spaces, and special-permit-only spaces, continue to be enforced 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you have questions about parking on campus, please contact us at transportation@stanford.edu or 650.723.9362.