UW Transportation Services is a department within Facilities Planning and Management (FP&M) on the UW-Madison campus. We serve a variety of customers with a diverse set of parking and transportation needs.
Transportation Services is responsible for the coordination and administration of all transportation-related services for the UW campus community.
Primary functions include the sale/management of parking permits, special event coordination, maintenance and enforcement, construction coordination, lot and booth operations, citation payments and appeals, information technology, financial, transportation planning, and development of multimodal options.
Mission Statement
Provide innovative transportation solutions that serve and support UW-Madison.
Strategic Priorities
Amplify Customer Service
- Build convenient and easily accessible information services
- Create a positive and professional image
- Balance the needs of different customers
- Increase partnerships
- Enhance communication
Accelerate Multimodal Transportation Initiatives
- Maximize & manage resources effectively
- Expand collaboration across campus to share resources
- Promote alternative transportation modes to balance parking demand
- Heighten campus-wide perspective and shared ownership
Advance Technology to Stay on the Cutting Edge
- Expand & share new advances in transportation technology
- Research & develop new technology
- Use technology to increase efficiency
Program Information
Wondering why parking costs what it does? Curious as to where UW Transportation Services invests the money it takes in? Below is a snapshot of the programs and campus improvements that Transportation Services funds. For more information, submit a question via the feedback page.
Parking Infrastructure
One of the highlighted goals of the Campus Master Plan is to create more ramp parking in order to free up land for future development. While spatially efficient, these ramps are expensive to construct—a single stall can easily cost more than $55,000! Due to financial and spatial limitations, the university has capped the number of stalls on campus at 13,000. With 60,000 people at UW-Madison, clearly not everyone can drive alone. This brings us to a second expense, UW Commuter Solutions.
UW Commuter Solutions
All employees and students who choose not to drive alone to work are greatly valued by UW Transportation Services. This includes people who vanpool, carpool, bus, bike, walk, and/or use a park and ride. By reducing the overall demand for parking, they enable us to meet our charge to cap parking.
Many commuter solutions are available for faculty, staff, and students to encourage use of alternative transportation methods. These solutions include the campus bus and discounted employee bus passes, cost sharing through carpools and vanpools, comprehensive assistance and route planning for any mode(s) of alternative transportation, and more. While these programs do not generate revenue, they enable us to avoid costs by reducing the demand for parking.
Funding Sources and Uses
How is the cost of parking determined?
As an auxiliary enterprise, UW Transportation Services does not receive any state funding. Users must be charged in order to pay for parking garages and lots, bus service, and Federal and State mandated alternative transportation activities. It costs approximately $22 million to provide these services and programs to the campus community. We set our rates in compliance with UW policy to cover only the cost of operating the department, including infrastructure improvements such as new lots and garages.
Who pays for campus bus service?
The on-campus Metro bus service is provided at no charge to the users. The cost for this service is shared between Transportation Services, the Associated Student of Madison (ASM) and University Housing. The total cost of this bus service is over $1.5 million annually.
For more information about the challenges Transportation Services faces, please see our Fall 2009 Open Forums information boards (PDF) and presentation (PDF).
Where does the money come from?
How is the money spent?
Surveys and Reports
Transportation Services continually works to address issues related to travel to, from and around the campus. The documents below are our various surveys and reports, listed chronologically with most recent documents on top. All files will open as PDF documents.
- NEW: 2024 Transportation Services Program Feedback Survey
- 2023 Transportation Modes Survey Report with Appendices
- 2021 Transportation Services Customer Satisfaction Survey
- 2020 Transportation Services Survey Report with Appendices
- 2018 Transportation Services Survey Report
- 2018 Transportation Services Survey Report – Appendices
- 2016 Transportation Services Survey Report
- 2016 Transportation Services Survey Report – Appendices
- 2014 Transportation Services Survey Report
- 2014 Transportation Services Survey Report – Appendices
- 2014 Park and Ride Survey Data
- 2013 Campus Transportation Survey Data
- 2013 Reduction in Vehicle Emissions Using RFID Parking Permits Report
- 2012 Transportation Services Survey Report
- 2012 Transportation Services Survey Report – Appendices
- 2012 Bus Survey