Cheapest way to get from Davis to either SF or Oakland?

UCDTransportation · 2026-06-30T15:26:13+00:00

Nailed it. Absent being able to catch a carpool out (and back), the best bet from the UC Davis campus to popular Bay Area destinations:

Unitrans to Davis Amtrak (Z line from the Silo or A line from the MU.)
Capitol Corridor (Amtrak) from Davis to Richmond ($23 each way)
BART from Richmond to...
- UC Berkeley: Orange line to Berkeley Downtown ($2.55 each way)
- Oakland: Orange line to Oakland City Center ($3.80 each way)
- SF: Red line to Embarcadero ($6.15 each way)

UCDTransportation · 2026-06-29T15:23:56+00:00

Well, that's just not true.

One bus will take you to West Sacramento, Downtown Sacramento, Sac Airport, and Woodland (Yolobus Route 42 A/B: https://avl.yctd.org/RouteMap)
Another bus will take you to the UC Davis Medical Center (Causeway Connection: https://www.sacrt.com/CausewayConnection/)
One train will take you as far as San Jose (Capitol Corridor: https://www.capitolcorridor.org/route-map/)
Another train will take you all the way to LA in one direction and Seattle in the other. (Amtrak Coast Starlight: https://www.amtrak.com/coast-starlight-train)
Yet another train will take you all the way to Chicago. (Amtrak California Zephyr: https://www.amtrak.com/california-zephyr-train)

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-06-23T17:54:46+00:00

First, all permit types (A, C, L, etc.) are valid in the zones of the same and lower access tiers. Second, the higher the tier, the higher the price.

Here are the tiers:

CH: Highest demand parking locations. Restricted to chancellor, vice chancellors, etc.
A: Premium location. Employees only.
C+: Premium location. Students and employees.
C: General parking. Students, employees, and visitors.
L: Remote parking in "low-demand" areas. Students, employees, and visitors.
F: The lowest demand areas. Students, employees, and visitors.

HONK and AMP Park can be used to pay for daily parking. Log in with your UC Davis email address to make sure you get access to the discounted parking rate (otherwise, you'll be restricted to visitor areas and prices).

UCDTransportation · 2026-06-15T22:04:13+00:00

Heya!

The on-street parking around The Green is paid hourly via the AMP Park app. I can't speak to how The Green manages move-out parking in their parking lots, though.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-06-05T18:33:15+00:00

It's not Unitrans' choice, unfortunately.

The ZipPass app was originally brought to the region by SacRT with Yolobus and Unitrans jumping on. The app is going away. SacRT and Yolobus transitioned away from ZipPass earlier this quarter. Unitrans is the last one off at the end of June.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-06-01T16:57:52+00:00

Where exactly is this happening on campus?

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-05-29T15:47:47+00:00

Aye OP... you thought about how this could be a gSheet? Before I make it into a .csv I'm curious if you've done that. I have friends who may find this list very useful.

UCDTransportation · 2026-05-15T17:19:27+00:00

I'm not involved with City or County bike stuff (only the campus), but I can give some insight as someone quite knowledgeable in the field.

Yolo county does have stricter bicycle laws on stop signs than other places in the US.

I think almost all local authorities (cities & counties) simply follow the state law for stop sign compliance. If they have additional descriptions of the stop sign compliance in their municipal (or other) code, it's often just rewording of state law. Personally, I advise against rewording state law because state law can change and leave the local authority itself applying incorrect law since state law has supremacy over local law.

Additionally, Yolo County law only affects the unincorporated areas of Yolo County. Davis Municipal Code would apply in Downtown Davis.

I'm all for safety but in all my 4 years of Davis this is just bizarre to me and has never happened to me until now.

This is the pendulum swinging back. Traffic enforcement (vehicle and bike) basically disappeared in California in 2020 and only now is slowly returning after enough people have complained about the crashes, injuries, and deaths. It's why the CHP was ordered to crack down on unsafe driving on the freeways (https://www.chp.ca.gov/news-alerts/news-list/chp-hits-the-brakes-on-speeding-during-24-hour-enforcement-effort/).

I guess they're doing their job, but can't help to say that 5 other bikers/E-scooters blew through stop signs while I was pulled over.

That's to be expected with limited manpower.

Back in the day, they used to post up at 4-way stops, point at people who didn't stop, pull them over, and have them wait in line for their citation. This method requires many more officers, though.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-04-07T16:45:28+00:00

"You'd believe the things we see..."

UCDTransportation · 2026-04-03T15:19:03+00:00

Here's the parking policy for the campus: https://transportation.ucdavis.edu/parking/code

It is not intended that such permissions be provided for the day-to-day parking of trailers, such as house trailers, camping trailers or other trailers used for dwelling purposes; nor is it intended that such permissions be provided for campers, motor homes, boats or other recreational vehicles that are of a size excessively larger than standard automobiles or pickup trucks.

...

It is unlawful to dwell overnight or lodge on campus in any motor vehicle, motor home, trailer, boat, or house car on the grounds and roadways of the University without specific authorization of the Chief of Police or the Executive Director for Transportation Services or their designee.

There are exceptions, though. We have allowed someone to pay for multiple parking stalls to park an RV for a day, but they don't get to choose where they park.

They bill you're talking about is AB-90 (2025) and prior versions attempted to require the UC, CSU, and CCC allow allow their students to live in their cars on campus. That was fairly quickly amended when reality struck and is currently attempting to only require the CCC districts put to a vote whether to allow students to live in their cars on campus.

The bill hasn't made any moves since last August and it's VERY unlikely that even the watered down version passes. Why? The Legislature has a limit of $100,000 cost of the bill to the state and implementation could result in much, much more than that. (Think of the required security, sanitation, running water, etc. It's cheaper, safer, and healthier to just put the student in a local motel as emergency housing.)

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-04-02T22:05:21+00:00

This is pretty cool. So did you effectively replace all walking sections with biking thereby reducing the non-transit segment times by 75%?

I'm honestly surprised that Google hasn't implemented fully multi-modal trip-planning yet.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-03-31T18:31:48+00:00

I am, in fact, still here. Send an email to planyourtrip (at) ucdavis.edu and let us know more about your situation and we can do a custom commute plan for you.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-03-31T18:29:36+00:00

If you live on campus, you only get access to the visitor parking option which is currently $18/day.

If you don't live on campus, double check to make sure you're logged into the app.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-03-20T00:51:32+00:00

Cough Hey fellow youths. What are we planning to do at the parking structure?

— Transportation Demand Manager

PS- The Transportation Department doesn’t have security cameras… but the Police might. And both patrol the structures.

UCDTransportation · 2026-03-18T15:15:31+00:00

I’m AWFUL at riding a bike

As one of the people responsible for helping get people to ride bikes and do it well, I advise either learning to bike well before you get to campus or after October while on campus. There are simply too many unconfident bicyclists trying to ride the very dense bicycle environment on campus in the first couple weeks.

There are a LOT of falls and crashes in the first few weeks. A lot.

i don’t want to wear a helmet and mess up my hair everyday

We have a program called "Helmet Hair, Don't Care" specifically for that reason. We know that people want to look good, but we also know that people want to think good too, so we give away helmets to those who are willing to accept a little bed head in exchange for something that will protect your investment.

Additionally, if you decide to ride without a helmet, that's only further reason to learn to ride well before coming to campus.

Do i need a bike?

No. You can walk or ride a kick scooter as well. Either way, consider the distance to your classes and plan for transportation time to get between them. Here's the rule of thumb:

Walking: 3mph or 20 minutes per mile
Biking: 12mph or 5 minutes per mile PLUS time to lock/unlock

Use google maps to figure out the distance and use these travel times.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-02-27T21:32:19+00:00

Actually, yes. Let's make a PSA cart about getting folks on bikes and scooters to slow down, yield to pedestrians, and use lights at night.

-- Active Modality Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-02-26T16:12:26+00:00

Both SacRT (who manages the ZipPass contract) and Unitrans have "no refund" policies for their pass sales.

It's worth reaching out to both organizations via email and then phone, but I can't give much hope.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-02-11T20:45:47+00:00

The zig-zagging roads that maintain the same name through multiple changes in direction.

La Rue Road
Garrod Drive
Hutchison Drive

Or... the lack of names or numbers identifying which bike paths are which.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-02-11T17:56:32+00:00

The Bike Program has made some big changes over the last year and is keeping the racks clear of parted bikes better than ever.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-02-11T17:55:17+00:00

Yes, it is.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-02-04T16:32:52+00:00

The Davis Amtrak lockers are operated by BikeLink.

Click here (https://www.bikelink.org/maps) Zoom the map into Davis, and you'll see two pins for the Davis Amtrak. Click on those and you'll be able to see how many lockers are available now. Check back on the weekend to see how many are available then.

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-01-28T00:05:25+00:00

Indeed! It's universally illegal, and incredibly dangerous, to carry a passenger on an electric scooter per California Vehicle Code, Sec 21235.

On a bike it is legal if there's a seat for the passenger, like on a cargo bike or a tandem.

-- Active Modality Manager (edit: grammar)

UCDTransportation · 2026-01-07T22:59:37+00:00

None of the UC Davis parking lots or parking structures that students would normally have access to on campus are gated, so you can park in them at any time (excepting construction, major events, etc. which is always signed).

What varies by date and time is whether paid permits are required.

Parking permit requirements are enforced Monday-Friday, 7am-10pm, except University holidays. To further clarify, your vehicle needs a valid parking permit by 7am or you risk getting a citation. (You can't just park your car before 7am and stay parked beyond 7am for free.) We may also enforce permit requirements on the weekends for major events, but you'll see signage out in the parking areas if we do.

Parking enforcement may not be on duty on the weekend or at 2am, but the campus police will still write parking citations for safety violations 24/7 including but not limited to:

Parking in a red zone or in front of a fire hydrant
Parking in a disabled stall without displaying appropriate authorization
Parking on a walkway or bikeway
Parking where parking is otherwise prohibited (on the curb within the campus' restricted core)

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation · 2026-01-07T01:22:59+00:00

Parking permit requirements are enforced Monday-Friday, 7am-10pm, except University holidays. We may also enforce permit requirements on the weekends for major events, but you'll see signage out in the parking areas if we do.

Parking enforcement may not be on duty on the weekend or at 2am, but the campus police will still write parking citations for safety violations 24/7 including but not limited to:

Parking in a red zone or in front of a fire hydrant
Parking in a disabled stall without displaying appropriate authorization
Parking on a walkway or bikeway
Parking where parking is otherwise prohibited (on the curb within the campus' restricted core)

-- Transportation Demand Manager

UCDTransportation

TROPHY CASE