Visitor Parking Rates Explained
Parking pricing is key to an effective and efficient parking system and plays an important role in Stanford’s commitment to reducing drive-alone and peak-hour commute trips.
Stanford’s approach to parking management and pricing
Stanford’s parking system reflects a number of factors, with a goal of serving the interests of the Stanford community as well as the priorities of the university and hospitals.
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As the campus population grows and services become increasingly more expensive to provide, the costs associated with these and other Transportation Demand Management programs also grow.
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Parking fees are key to effectively managing parking demand. In other words, our parking rates help ensure sufficient parking availability where and when visitors want and need it.
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Research shows that parking fees are critical to reducing the drive-alone rate, which continues to be a top priority under the university’s General Use Permit and the hospitals’ entitlement commitments.
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Revenues from parking help fund parking maintenance and sustainable transportation programs.
For FY 20, visitor parking is $4.46 per hour at Stanford’s main campus, and $2.50 per hour at Stanford Redwood City. Visitor parking rates in 2018-19 were $1.75 to $2.75 per hour at the main campus and $2 per hour at Stanford Redwood City. (Prices do not include a $0.40 transaction fee for payments made via the ParkMobile app or website.)
Stanford’s rates are in keeping with other universities’ rates in the Bay Area. UC Berkeley’s visitor parking is $4 per hour or $15 to $25 per day, and up to $25 for evening and weekend parking.UCSF Public Parking is $4 per hour up to $32 per day, and $3 per hour on weeknights and $3 to $8 per hour on weekends.
Why the increase for visitor parking?
Since parking revenues fund our transportation programs and operational costs, rates must keep pace with increased costs to enable us to deliver effective, reliable, and safe transportation programs for the Stanford community.
Some of the same affordability issues that are a concern about permit rate increases factor into increased costs for our programs. For example, labor and operational costs for the free Marguerite shuttle service have increased in recent years, reflecting the higher cost of living in the Bay Area and highly competitive market for bus services and operators as we compete with tech companies for these resources.
Parking revenues also help to fund maintenance for parking garages.This cost has increased as the university has built multi-level parking garages to meet the needs of the campus community. Parking garages are a more efficient use of land and increases capacity to better serve our permit holders and visitors, but they do come with higher maintenance costs.
In addition, demand for parking at Stanford continues to increase. Parking rates are key to managing parking availability and reducing demand. Stanford's new rates support these goals.
Consider sustainable transportation options
Reducing drive-alone trips is a priority for Stanford. To reduce or avoid the cost of parking on campus, consider sustainable transportation options.
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We offer a transit map for the main campus and a transit map for Stanford Redwood City on our website.
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Stanford also offers free Marguerite shuttle service, which connects with Caltrain and other transit services at both campuses. For the Stanford Redwood City site, we help to fund expanded Commute.org shuttle service during peak times, and free midday Marguerite shuttle service. Visit our SRWC site for these transit resources.
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Bay Area Spare the Air program provides a list of public carpooling apps and also offers alternative transportation resources by county. Stanford's main campus is located in Santa Clara County, while the Stanford Redwood City site is in San Mateo County.
We hope this information is helpful. If you have questions about visitor parking at Stanford or need our assistance, please contact us at transportation@stanford.edu or 650.723.9362.