UCLA Transportation’s Bruin Grad Pass (BGP) earned the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) Commuting Options in Public Transit Award, recognizing it as an exemplary program that decreases drive-alone trips and reduces carbon emissions.
ACT's National Awards honor outstanding achievements in transportation demand management. Every year, public and private sector agencies, businesses, non-profit organizations, associations, transportation providers, and colleges and universities compete for accolades in different categories.
BGP, a winner in the public transit category, gives UCLA graduate students access to unlimited fare-free rides during the academic year on LA Metro bus and rail lines, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, and Culver CityBus. Graduate students can also choose one commuter line serving the campus: Long Beach Transit, LADOT Commuter Express, Santa Clarita Transit, and Antelope Valley Transit Authority.
For a small fee added to the quarterly tuition, the pass is a significant discount off standard transit rates and further offset by UCLA Transportation subsidies, saving graduate students hundreds of dollars a year in transportation expenses and transit pass costs.
Despite the program's introduction during remote instruction, in the first week of the launch, more than 1,000 graduate students registered for the pass. Thousands of graduate students have continued to sign up for a pass in consecutive academic quarters.
Even without a regular commute to campus, graduate students gravitated toward this sustainable way to navigate L.A. without a car. In addition to converting students into eco-conscious commuters, the use of the pass helps decrease traffic and address parking demand on campus.
BGP is the latest initiative from the department to provide UCLA’s student population with an affordable, reliable, and greener travel option that gets Bruins where they need to be without harming the environment.
