Navigating Orlando: A Guide to Car Rental Options and Transportation for UCF Students

Orlando, Florida, a city brimming with attractions from world-renowned theme parks like Disney World to the Kennedy Space Center, offers a plethora of opportunities for entertainment and exploration. For University of Central Florida (UCF) students, faculty, staff, and visitors, navigating this vibrant city efficiently and affordably is crucial. This article explores various transportation options available, focusing on car rental discounts for UCF students and alternative modes of transportation.

Car Rental Options for UCF Students

Avis Car Rental: Convenience and Potential Discounts

Avis offers rental car services near the UCF campus. Located conveniently at the La Quinta Hotel, Avis provides easy access for those visiting the university, conducting business, or for students needing a vehicle. Avis offers a variety of vehicles, including SUVs suitable for transporting larger groups.

Avis aims to provide cost-effective options, including economy car rentals, to help travelers save money.

Discounts for Official UCF Business Travel

Students may only use the Avis/Budget contract for official UCF business travel. The university's contract with Avis/Budget includes insurance. If a traveler rents from another company, the traveler should purchase collision damage waiver insurance. Once insurance is added to the base rental cost, the total rental cost per day will likely make renting a car from another company more expensive.

On-Campus Transportation and Parking at UCF Downtown

Shuttle Services

UCF Parking and Transportation Services operates 15 daily roundtrip express shuttles between the UCF main campus’ Lynx Transit Center (between Garage A and Garage I) and UCF Downtown. The shuttles operate Monday through Thursday, from 6:30 AM to 10:30 PM and Friday from 6:30 AM to 8:30 PM, except on holidays or campus closures.

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The Grocery Shuttle is available to UCF and Valencia students to take you from the downtown campus to the Publix at The Paramount on Lake Eola, 400 E. Central Blvd. Along Livingston Street, in front of Dr. Phillips Academic Commons, 528 W. A valid UCF or Valencia Downtown ID is required prior to boarding the Shuttle.

Parking Facilities and Permits

There are about 2,000 parking spaces available to support the downtown campus. The Amelia I Parking Garage (PG3) is the primary parking garage for “D” (green) and “R” (orange) permits. The UnionWest garage is the only overnight parking option on-campus. The Parramore Garage (PG1) serves faculty and staff with “B” (red), “C” (blue) parking permits.

Visitors to UCF Downtown may purchase an $8 daily parking permit using UCF’s virtual permits. The first level of the Parramore Garage offers daily virtual permit parking only. Overflow parking for daily virtual permits is available on the 4th floor of the Parramore Garage or on any level of the Amelia Garage. Daily permits will be valid in all of the “D” (green) parking spaces in the Parramore Garage or UCF Amelia Garage.

Metered parking along Livingston Street, as well as an hourly parking lot on Livingston Street adjacent to the Marriott Hotel, is managed by the City of Orlando.

Alternative Transportation Options in Orlando

Public Transportation: LYNX and Lymmo

Getting around downtown Orlando is easy with free Lymmo lines, and all UCF students, faculty and staff also receive free rides anywhere in Orlando on LYNX, the rapid bus transit system.

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SunRail Commuter Train

SunRail is a commuter rail system with 17 stations that run through Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties. University of Central Florida students, faculty and staff pay a $25 annual fee. Alumni can join for a $35 annual fee. Rental rates start at $8.50 per hour and $69 per day. There is one car available near UCF Downtown and additional cars are available throughout the greater downtown Orlando area.

Additional Considerations for Travelers

Reimbursement Policies for Travel Expenses

A department may reimburse for mileage to and from the employee’s primary work location to the UCF campus where the meeting is being held. The department may not reimburse for mileage between any Orlando UCF campus and the traveler’s home, regardless of the time at which duties end at the location of the meeting.

For example, if an employee’s main work location is UCF main campus and they have a meeting from 4:00-5:00 at UCF Downtown campus, the department may reimburse for mileage between UCF main campus and UCF Downtown. If an employee regularly works at two locations during one day, the transportation expenses incurred to get from one workplace to another are reimbursable. However, expenses incurred by the employee to travel to or from their home to their secondary work location are not reimbursable.

Fuel Purchases

Each Voyager gasoline credit card is assigned to a specific UCF vehicle. It can be used to purchase gasoline at any facility that accepts credit cards.

Travel Upgrades and Changes

The increased cost of the ticket should be reasonable, considering the time of the traveler, impact on the traveler’s productivity, cost of transportation, and per diem or subsistence required. The university will reimburse the traveler the round-trip cost to the business destination; however, the traveler must pay the additional cost to the personal destination.

If a traveler needs to purchase a ticket because of an issue with the airline, they may do so provided the traveler has made all reasonable efforts to resolve the situation with the airline and if waiting for the next available flight on that airline would inconvenience the traveler.

Travel Between Conferences

Immediately after a conference ends, a traveler travels to another location to attend a second conference that begins a few days later. If a family member transports the traveler to the airport, round-trip mileage and tolls are permissible.

Alternative Transportation Reimbursement

Yes, the traveler may be reimbursed up to the amount it would have cost to fly to his or her destination.

Vehicle Preferences

The University discourages travelers from renting SUVs, travelers should rent a van instead. If a traveler will be in an unfamiliar area, a GPS device can help the traveler arrive at his or her destination in a timely manner.

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