Navigating UCF Parking: A Comprehensive Guide to Daily Permits and Transportation Options

The University of Central Florida (UCF) offers a wide array of transportation and parking options to cater to the diverse needs of its students, faculty, staff, and visitors. From traditional parking permits to innovative virtual systems and various modes of transportation, understanding the available resources is crucial for a seamless campus experience. This comprehensive guide focuses on daily parking permits at UCF, alongside an overview of alternative transportation methods.

Daily Parking Permits at UCF

For visitors and those who do not regularly commute to campus, daily parking permits offer a flexible and convenient solution. UCF utilizes a virtual permit system, which means your license plate serves as your parking permit.

Virtual Daily Permits: How They Work

UCF has implemented virtual parking permits for employees and students. The virtual parking system allows you to use your license plate number as your parking permit. With License Plate Recognition (LPR), your license plate is your virtual permit. The license plate is captured by cameras mounted on enforcement vehicles or inside parking garages. When read, the numbers of your plate are automatically referenced against the parking database to verify proper parking privileges for the designated location.

To ensure proper usage, remember to park nose-in, with your vehicle plate facing the drive lanes. Back-in parking is not allowed on any of UCF’s campuses. The proper way to park is nose-in, back-out, effective Summer 2019.

Where to Park with a Daily Permit

Virtual Daily parking permits are available for $8.00 per day and are allowed in General (green) student spaces. After 5:30pm, virtual daily parking permits are allowed to park in Employee, Unreserved, or Student spaces.

Purchasing a Daily Permit

If you are new to campus, you must register your vehicle and purchase a virtual permit. Once permits are purchased at parking.ucf.edu, your vehicle’s license plate is your parking permit.

Important Considerations for Virtual Permits

License Plate as Permit: With LPR, your license plate is your virtual permit! No more worrying about properly displaying your parking permit or transferring your permit between vehicles.
Second Vehicle Registration: Individuals who would like to register a second vehicle to their account can do so for an additional fee of $15. The second vehicle must be owned and registered to the original permit holder or within the same household. The second registration will expire on the same date as the first permit.
One Vehicle at a Time: While the use virtual permits remove the need to transfer parking permits between vehicles, only one vehicle per account can be parked on any one of the UCF campuses (Downtown, Health Sciences, Main, Research Park and Rosen College) at a time.
Temporary Vehicle Changes: If your vehicle is in the shop for repairs, the account holder can do a temporary vehicle change by manually switching the vehicle’s tag number online. Each temporary change can be up to 14 calendar days. The temporary vehicle information will auto revert to the original vehicle information when the temporary change expires. No user action is required.

Additional Permit Options

In addition of purchasing 365 annual or 150-day permit, the account holder will have the opportunity to add a second vehicle for a cost of $15. Only one vehicle per account can be parked on any of UCF campus at a time or a $100 parking fine can be assessed to the account holder.

Annual Virtual Permits: Annual virtual permits are valid 365 days from the date of purchase.
150-Day Virtual Permits: For those who would like to purchase parking by semester, there will be a 150-day virtual permit valid 150 days from date of purchase.

Parking Regulations and Enforcement

To maintain order and ensure fair access to parking facilities, UCF enforces specific regulations.

License Plate Recognition (LPR)

License Plate Recognition (LPR) is smart parking technology that provides virtual permits through a vehicle’s license plate instead of paper permits or plastic hangtags. LPR increases parking efficiency on campus, provides convenience for UCF’s constituents and offers a touchless approach to attaining permit credentials.

Parking Garages

To enter the Amelia Garage, turn right onto Alexander Place from N. Hughey Avenue. Turn right again onto Ronald Blocker Ave. The entrance is on your right-hand side. When exiting the garage, you will exit onto Ronald Blocker Ave., but can only turn right.

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Important Reminders

Nose-In Parking: Back-in parking is prohibited. The proper way to park is nose-in, back-out.
One Vehicle Per Account: Only one vehicle per account can be parked on any one of the UCF campuses at the same time.

Alternative Transportation Options at UCF

Recognizing the importance of sustainable and convenient transportation, UCF provides a variety of alternatives to driving.

Shuttles

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. UCF buses and shuttles operate only when UCF is in session. Please refer to the UCF Academic Calendar for their schedule. For safety reasons, riders must show drivers their valid UCF ID prior to boarding UCF shuttles.

Downtown Shuttles: Shuttles operate between UCF’s main and downtown campuses Monday through Thursday with varying hours between 6:30 am and 10:30 pm . Main campus departures take place at the LYNX Transit Center (between Parking Garages A and I). Drop-offs and pick-ups for the downtown campus will be on Livingston Street in front of Dr.
Grocery Shuttles: On Tuesdays, UCF provides grocery shuttles on the main and downtown campuses. For main campus, shuttles run to and from the Publix Super Market located at the University Palms Shopping Center on Alafaya Trail. Grocery shuttles run every 45 minutes from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. For the UCF Downtown grocery shuttle, shuttles will travel from travel from Livingston Street, in front of the Dr. Phillips Academic Commons building to the Publix at The Paramount on Lake Eola, 400 E.
Health Science Campus (Lake Nona) Shuttles: Shuttles travel between the main and Lake Nona campuses Monday through Friday between 7:20 am and 6 pm. Main campus stops are at the Physical Sciences building and the Biomolecular Research Annex on Research Parkway.
Intra Campus Pegasus Express: These on-campus shuttles will run counterclockwise around the university from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm during the fall and spring semesters.
Rosen Campus Shuttles: During the fall and spring, shuttles travel between main campus and the Rosen campus Monday through Thursday between 6:45 am and 9:15 pm. Main campus departures are in the Pegasus Circle and Aquarius Agora Drive roundabout located behind the Student Union.
Off-Campus Shuttles: Students who live at select off-campus housing communities near main campus can leave their cars parked at their residence and take advantage of complimentary shuttles that will drop them off on campus.

Public Transportation

LYNX: UCF students and employees can ride all LYNX routes for free, whether they’re near campus or not, with a valid UCF ID. 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.
LYMMO: The free LYMMO lines are an easy, convenient way to get around downtown Orlando, with two lines stopping at UCF Downtown. The rapid transport system operates from 6:00 am to 10:45 pm on weekdays, with hours varying on the weekend.
SunRail: 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.

Other Options

Bikes: There are 65 bike racks on campus that are free to use. Bikes should be locked to the racks using U-bolt lock and cable combinations. Students with a valid UCF ID can also take advantage of SG’s free Bike N’ Gold bike share program as alternative to driving. Bike N’ Gold will operate 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Monday through Friday. Weekly check-ins at the bike shop are required to ensure the bike is in proper working condition. Students may come, free of charge, and have their bikes repaired with quality service by our Bike Repair Team.
Spin Scooters: Spin scooters will be available to help students better navigate the university’s 1,415-acre main campus. The scooters will operate from 5:00 am to 11:00 pm, will only be operational on campus, and require downloading the Spin app, which is available on Android and Apple devices. Scooters will be available at 15 charging stations across campus and will cost $1 to unlock and $0.15 per minute to ride.
Lyft: SG has partnered with Lyft to provide students with discounts for the ride-sharing app. The codes are only valid for two rides each month and the rides must be within a specific zone around UCF.
RedCoach: provides bus services from UCF to South Florida, Tallahassee and Gainesville in business class seats. Purchase tickets online.
Car Share: 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.

UCF Downtown Specifics

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. UCF Downtown has a dedicated police force at the campus, available 24/7, located in a sub-station on Amelia Street. The campus includes uniformed patrols, video surveillance, blue light phones, and emergency alert systems.

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. Questions?

UCF Downtown campus, City of Orlando Livingston Parking Lot (corner of Livingston St.

Additional Resources and Assistance

UCF provides ample resources to assist with parking and transportation-related issues.

UCF Mobile App

UCF Mobile app. - Visit the Parking icon - Find out how many spaces are available in each parking garage on main campus, various parking maps. Under Notifications, select “Explore all Channels”, select Parking Availability Updates.

Motorist Assistance

If you’re having issues with your vehicle, Parking and Transportation Services provides motorist assistance with battery jumps, tire inflations, finding your vehicle or opening your locked doors.

SMS Notifications

You can Opt In/Out SMS notifications from Parking Portal for your permit orders, payments, renewals, citations, and appeals.

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