Parking Policies

You must have a blue disability placard/license plate issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to park in a "blue" space.

The DMV also issues temporary RED disability placards that the campus honors. These must be displayed in the vehicle in a manner so that the date of expiration is visible.

There are also a variety of types of campus permits available, ranging from regular campus parking permits based on student or faculty-staff classification to one day visitor's campus permits. Faculty, staff, and students may apply for a campus parking permit online or at the Parking & Transportation Office.

Anyone with temporary or long-term disabilities who does not already have a state-issued disability placard/license plate may submit an application to the California State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The campus Parking & Transportation may periodically check with the DMV to make verify that a disabled parking placard/license is up to date.

In addition to displaying a valid state-issued disabled parking placard, persons with disabilities must obtain a campus parking permit in order to park in a blue disabled parking (DP) space on campus.

You can be ticketed if you park in a campus blue disabled parking space with only a state-issued disabled parking placard/license and no current campus permit.

Visitor Parking information

Parking permits for a single day are available at campus parking permit vending dispensers. You must have and display a current state issued disability parking placard/license along with the day permit.

We strongly recommend that visitors with a disability allow at least 45 minutes for parking.

In highly unusual circumstances (e.g., one time guest lecturers, presenters, etc.), special parking arrangements may be available by contacting access@berkeley.edu a minimum of three working days in advance of the event (in general, special arrangements are not available to audience members of events).

Non-disabled personal attendants who serve persons with disabilities are allowed to park in a "blue" disabled space only if they are driving a vehicle in which the person with the disability is a passenger.

The vehicle must display a campus permit and a disability placard belonging to the person with the disability.

With a permit and disability placard/license plate, you may park in a campus blue disabled parking space.

Blue spaces are reserved for persons with disabilities. Most, but not all, of these spaces meet access codes requirements. For example, due to the hilly terrain on which the campus sits, not all “blue” parking spaces are sufficiently level (or wide) to meet the needs of all persons with disabilities.

Vehicles displaying a disability placard and campus permit may also park in any vacant campus parking space as long as the vehicle complies with the terms of any posted notice of restricted use for that space such as a particular individual or license plate holder, a specific category of vehicles, or a limited period of time.

Non-compliance with this provision will result in a parking citation.

Generally, all students, staff, faculty, and visitors are required to purchase their own parking permit to allow them to park on campus. Under rare circumstances, if the following criteria have been considered, a student may be provided with a campus parking permit as an accommodation:

1. The provision of a parking permit as an accommodation should only be considered if the student verifies that the permit will allow for transportation between destinations on the campus. All students are responsible for arriving on campus in a manner that meets their disability needs.

2. Students should rely on their priority enrollment as an accommodation offered by DSP. They should make decisions about which courses to take that will allow them time to get to all of their classroom buildings by using available campus transportation options.

3. The student must demonstrate that all other available transit options fail to allow them to get from one course or other on-campus activity to another. The Loop and/or BearTransit shuttles must not meet the disability needs or the schedule needs of a student.

To find out more information or consider your eligibility, please review the Loop webpage, and the Parking and Transportation webpage. If you have further questions or would like your situation to be considered to receive a parking permit as an accommodation, please contact Disability Access and Compliance by emailing access@berkeley.edu, or speak with your DSP Specialist.

On rare occasions, departments may request that a particular parking space be dedicated to the exclusive use of a named faculty or staff with a disability. Occasionally a student with a disability will request a dedicated parking space. Even when a request for a dedicated parking space for a faculty, staff, or student with a disability is granted, the individual’s vehicle must still display a valid campus permit and usually the parking space will be dedicated to the individual’s exclusive use for only a limited number of hours on certain days.

Disability Access & Compliance (DAC) reviews requests for a dedicated parking space to determine whether the needs of the person with a disability can be met within the existing transportation/parking system:

• If the person's destination is on the campus shuttle bus route stops, they will be instructed to park in a parking lot near a shuttle stop where there is ample parking for persons with disabilities, such as Lower Hearst and Underhill, and asked to use the campus shuttle to reach their destination.
• If the person’s destination is not sufficiently near a shuttle bus stop or Loop golf cart services, alternative options may be explored, such as cab/van service or, when possible, relocation of the event/classroom/workplace.
• If alternative options are not feasible, an additional (non-dedicated) blue disabled parking space may be created in proximity to the destination. A trial period will ensue to ascertain if this additional “blue” parking space solves the parking needs of the person with a disability.
• If adding a new non-dedicated “blue” disabled parking space does not solve the person’s parking needs (e.g., the additional DP parking space is frequently occupied when the person needs to park), a disabled parking space may be dedicated for the exclusive use of the person with a disability by posting a sign with license plate number(s), limiting use of the “blue” disabled parking space exclusively to the person with the disability during the necessary hours.