Arranging Parking for Guests

Visitors may purchase a temporary 1-Day permit from the Main Entrance Kiosk located on Coolidge Drive between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. From 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., all permits must be purchased at the TAPS Sales Office. The cost of guest parking permits is $10 per day or $5 per evening (after 3:30pm).
A map of both locations is available here.

Purchasing Permits for Guests
Departments can use the recharge process to order permits for their guests. A parking-specific recharge form is available for downloading. Submit a completed and signed recharge form (include FOAPAL) via email to tapssales@ucsc.edu. Allow up to 72 business hours for processing. This time may be longer during our peak season.

Cost of Pre-Paid Permits

• Full day guest permit: $10

• 4-hour permit: $5 (department or visitor writes in the start time)

Permit Pickup
Departments can pick up pre-paid permits to distribute themselves, or can request that permits be held at the Kiosk for guest pickup. Because parking is extremely limited at the Kiosk, please use the following guidelines in planning for your guests:

• 5 or fewer guests: direct them to the Kiosk
• 6 to 14 guests: direct them to the TAPS Sales Office (H Barn)
• 15 or more guests: please notify Event Parking at (831) 459-1097 or fill out the online event notification form. Event Parking will arrange to have student attendants stationed where your guests will park, and can sell or issue pre-paid permits to them there.

Guests can pickup pre-paid permits at the Kiosk from 7:00am–1:00pm Monday through Friday. From 1:00pm–5:00pm, they will need to go to the TAPS Sales Office. If your guest will be arriving after 5:00pm, they may need to rely on ParkMobile. However, please check with us, as we might be able to suggest a better alternative.

If Prepaid Permits are Held by TAPS for Pick-up
Please let us know at least 24 hours in advance when you will have a guest arrive.

• Kiosk reservation will need to be made no later than 3pm on the day before the requested pick up date.
• For any reservations made after 3pm or same day requests (if able to be accommodated), the permits will be available for pick up at the parking sales office. You will find a link below to a map to the sales office. Please provide this map to guests if needed.  https://taps.ucsc.edu/pdf/base-of-campus.pdf

Send us an email (tapssales@ucsc.edu), and put your department name and the date of the guest’s arrival in the subject line. We will send you a confirming email when we’ve processed your reservation. 

• In the body of the email, please include:
• Guest name
• Date of arrival
• Type of permit (4-hour or full day)
• Department folder name
• Estimated time of arrival
• Special instructions or directions

Hours and Other Important Information
The TAPS Sales Office is open from 7:00am–5:00pm. The Kiosk is open from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Permit sales at the Kiosk end at 1:00 p.m.; To purchase permits after 1:00 p.m., please go to the TAPS Sales Office.

Before you make a reservation, please check your prepaid permit inventory by accessing your Department's Recharge Permit Log in the Google Drive that is shared with all Department folder contacts.

Your permit will only be issued when your guest arrives. If the guest does not come, the permit goes back into your inventory – no need to telephone or email if there is a cancellation.