Parking & Transportation Services

Staff is always friendly and helpful here. I usually don’t have to wait too long but I also normally come here in the mornings.

I think this place is not helpful/​useful for non-​Stanford people.
P&TS encourages Stanford people to commute off-​peak or non-​driving methods. I don’t drive to go to the lab, so I can get free Caltrain/​VTA pass here.
It might be helpful for parking for visitors, but very difficult to find the office.

It’s a mixed bag… on one hand they’ve got some unique and innovative programs to encourage bike commuting and discourage on-​campus driving, but on the other hand, they’ve got some comically bad policies that merit a sarcastacular Unilocal review. Now I’m not going to complain about the notorious early 2000s era practice of putting up temporary «no parking» signs and then ticketing cars parked by them… though I had a couple friends enjoy the benefits of contributing revenue through that.
No, I’m going to talk about visitor parking.
Stanford has lots of events on campus that a visitor might want to attend. Your choices are only terrible if using conventional thinking. So let’s think positive:
— You can park at a meter using coins. This is great if you want to walk a mile to your event, because the meters exist hardly anywhere. It’s also awesome if you have tons of change because they charge like $ 2 per hour. And a further benefit is that it prevents you from getting too comfortable in the Stanford bubble — they limit you to two hours in a lot of places.
— Park illegally. This is a great option for those of us who love gambling and make a decent wage, but without the benefits of mile-​long walks to your destination. Enforcement is thoroughly random: one friend parked in a residential lot without a permit, overnight, for 18 straight months at Mirrielees (or was it Suites?) before he was ticketed. An acquaintance managed to park only two hours at AK (around 9am) before being ticketed, and yours truly took a dozen two-​hour whacks at EV’s vehicular accommodations before being allowed to donate to further enforcement efforts. A ticket is on the order of $ 50, which from an expected-​value perspective is a good price — unless you are, say an indebted student who then won’t be able to afford groceries if you get unlucky. So an additional benefit is that the enforcement keeps Romney’s «47%» from getting too comfortable parking their jalopies in such nicely groomed lots.
— You can buy a one day «scratcher» permit. Now this option is truly awesome, combining all of the benefits of the above two options. First, it only allows you to park in the few «visitor» spaces, so you can still get lots of exercise. Second, in the long run it allows you to provide even more revenue to P&TS than parking illegally, because these cost an epic $ 12 per day. An extra benefit: you have to go to the parking office — during business hours only — to buy them, ensuring that you see more of Stanford. While there you’ll benefit from several P&TS posters telling you how much they help reduce traffic and its environmental impact. And finally: when there, you’ll likely find that in order to visit the parking office you need to — guess what??? — PARK! That’s right, you’ll have to bring change with you to the parking office so you can park in a visitor spot while buying your $ 12 day permit. Another awesome opportunity to provide much needed revenue to this enterprise.
In short, there are many ways to enjoy your car-​based visit to Stanford.
Now for the non-​sarcastic version: if you’re going somewhere Tresidder, park in that lot using a daily permit you can buy at a machine there. If you’re visiting elsewhere, just remember that daily parking is $ 50, and a nice police officer will leave a bill on your windshield. But most days (which are unannounced) such parking is free.