Where can I get a bike locally?

If you don't already own a bike, the first thing you'll need to decide is how much money you would like to spend on your bike.

• The UC Davis Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) provides some tips on things to consider before you make your purchase, as well as a list of local vendors and services, and recommendations for shipping your bicycle if you're coming to Davis from a distance.

• The Davis Wiki Bicycles page provides a fairly comprehensive list of the different types of bikes available and an even more thorough list of bicycle shops in the Davis area that sell both new and used bikes.

• For second-hand bikes, browse the Services for International Students and Scholars (SISS) listserv emails, UC Davis Sell or Trade and Free and for Sale Facebook groups, and some local Thrift Stores and Craigslist postings. Twice a year in May and October, TAPS holds auctions for abandoned and unclaimed bicycles.

• If you would rather rent a bike, some shops offer bike rentals and there's always JUMP bikes.

Bicycle maintenance

Your bike will need a tune up a few times a year to keep it in working order, especially after Davis' wet winters. TAPS and the Davis Wiki provide some guidelines on available repair stations if you need to borrow some tools, resources to learn how to fix your own bike, and shops with repair services. Here are some places recommended by IGG students:

• Bike barn - located on campus near the Silo (the corner of Hutchinson and California) and operated by the Associated Students of UC Davis (ASUCD)

• That club that gets together to fix bikes in the quad

• Shops around Davis:

  • Ken's Bike-Ski-Board: located next to the Davis Co-op, which also has a bike repair station

  • Green Bicycle Depot: located on Olive Drive across from the defunct Redrum Burger

  • B&L Bikeshop: the oldest bike shop in Davis, located downtown around the corner from Baskin Robbins

Options for temporary long-term storage

Bicycles are abandoned surprisingly often in Davis, so UC Davis TAPS personnel regularly patrol the campus and impound bicycles that appear to be abandoned. If you need to be away from Davis for several weeks or more and your living situation doesn't allow you to store your bicycle indoors or in another secure location, TAPS provides several storage options. Other bicycle shops such as the Green Bicycle Depot may also offer storage options.

Stuff for fun - groups on campus that get together to bike, fix bikes, long distance, the Tour de Davis, etc

Purchasing your own vehicle

As with most things Davis-related, the Davis Wiki offers some advice on how to purchase your vehicle. Don't forget to get insurance and register your vehicle at the DMV!

• To purchase a new vehicle in Davis, Chiles Road is home to several dealerships, including Toyota, Chevrolet, Nissan, Jeep, Dodge, and Honda. A quick Google search will reveal car dealerships in Woodland, Sacramento, and Vacaville.

• To purchase a used vehicle from outside of a dealership, browse the Services for International Students and Scholars (SISS) listserv emails, UC Davis Sell or Trade and Free and for Sale Facebook groups, and Craigslist postings.

Vehicle shares and rentals

If you only need to use vehicle every once in a while for a limited time, you can rent a car via car rental agencies or ride shares. Here are some options:

• Shared motility companies such as Zimride and Zipcar

• Davis has several car rental agencies such as Avis, Budget, and Enterprise

Carpools

Need to commute but want to avoid potentially crowded buses? Considering joining a carpool group, such as:

• goCarpool and goVanpool, part of the UC Davis goClub

• Waze Carpool, recommended by the UC Davis goClub

• Join the UC Davis Ride Sharing, UC Davis/Bay Area Carpool, and Orange County/UC Davis Rideshare Facebook Groups

The Davis Wiki is pretty informative regarding parking in Davis. Here are some key take-home points:

Parking on campus

When parking on campus, you fall under the jurisdiction of TAPS and are subject to their own set of rules. Use the campus map to find parking places listed in the parking inventory.

• Almost all parking on campus requires a permit; there are different types of permits and can be purchased through TAPS located behind the West Entry parking structure near Hutchinson Drive or online if you have a UC Davis Kerberos account, except for daily parking permits which may be purchased in the parking lots.

• Of particular importance, students and employees living in residence halls or other campus housing areas are not eligible to purchase longer term campus day use permits, and vehicles registered to a resident (or the resident’s family name/address) are subject to citation and additional sanctions when displaying these permits. See the TAPS Campus Parking Guide for more details, which provides parking details for campus residents, electric vehicles, outside vendors/contractors/delivery companies, and visitors.

• For short-term and irregular trips to campus when you don't want to have to pay for a day-long permit, a third option is EasyPark which allows you to pay for as long as you want (within posted time limits) and pay only for the time you use. EasyPark credit may be purchased and loaded onto the device only at Transportation Services.

• Parking rules tend to be strictly enforced by TAPS (see here for current enforcement hours)! Although it's possible to appeal parking citations, it's best to avoid them in the first place.

• See the top FAQs on the TAPS website for information about parking on campus or post your own question if it's not listed already.

Parking around Davis

Parking around Davis can be tricky. Some words of caution are below:

• When parking downtown, be sure to check the signs! Street parking is usually limited to 1, 1.5 or 2 hours of parking, and vehicles can't be re-parked anywhere on the same block or directly across the street from it for a length of time indicated on the signage, as per the Reparking Rule.

• Many of the residential areas in Davis that are "close" to campus will have restricted parking, regulated by the city. Residents must obtain Residential Parking Permits to avoid being issued a copious number of tickets for parking on the street. Many apartments also have parking restrictions, but regulations vary from complex to complex.

• If you would like to take the Yolobus to Sacramento, the Davis Park and Ride is located at 2nd & Mace, behind Ikeda's.

• Do not ignore parking tickets! Ignoring a ticket will prevent you from renewing your tags if you're a California resident, and if you ignore five (5) tickets you may find yourself subject to the Vehicle Immobilizer Program, which will result in your car being booted. Instead, pay (or dispute) your parking tickets at the City's website.

Traffic

Access to the center core area of the UC Davis campus is restricted. The center core area is defined by traffic control gates and bollards at points of access. General vehicle access to the restricted campus core is limited to emergency response vehicles, authorized buses, Mobility Assistance Shuttles and authorized vehicles whose heavy loading/unloading needs cannot be met by other parking options, which means that it may be helpful to plan ahead in terms of where to park if you plan on driving to campus.

Traffic tends to be heavy close to campus (e.g. Russell Blvd, A St.) and downtown with vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians. Take extra care to watch out for cyclists at all times even in residential districts ,especially in the evening as many parts of Davis have no streetlights and cyclists don't always have bike lights. See the Davis Wiki page for a list of traffic quirks unique to Davis. If you plan on heading to Sacramento, rush hour starts approximately around 2:30 pm most weekdays, 1:30 pm on Fridays.

UNITRANS is the most useful bus service if you're traveling within Davis. - There are many bus lines run by UNITRANS. Collectively, these bus lines can take you to almost anywhere in Davis with proper planning. As of the 2019-2020 academic year, the fare for a single ride costs $1.25 and the bus drivers do not have change.

• There are other options for multiple rides such as ten-ride tickets, monthly, quarterly, and annual passes (always check the UNITRANS fares page for the most recent prices and other accepted passes) that can be purchased from various locations throughout Davis, including from TAPS and 5 South Hall on campus.

• Graduate students who do not purchase a parking permit and join the goClub are eligible to purchase passes and tickets through TAPS at a discount; visit the goBus page for more information.

• UNITRANS connects with several transit systems in Davis: YoloBus, Davis Community Transit, Amtrak, Fairfield and Suisun Transit, and the UC Berkeley shuttle.

UC Davis, Yolobus, and Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) partnered to add the Causeway Connection, replacing the UCD-UCSMC shuttle as the campus transit route connecting the UC Davis main campus to the UCD Medical Center in Sacramento. - Because the Causeway Connection is so new, there is no "official" established web page for it yet as of the 2019-2020 academic year, though the UCD Finance, Operations and Administration has a Causeway Connection page nested under it that contains some FAQs. Googling "Causeway Connection" would be your best bet to find the most updated information about it.

• Until October 2020, graduate students and other UC Davis affiliates can ride the Causeway Connection for free. After October 2020, the UCD FOA page says the fare will be $35/mo. or $1.50 per ride for graduate students, while the SacRT page claims that graduate students ride for free, but then it refers to the UCD FOA page for "more information" while simultaneous claiming that "the cost to ride is $2.50 or $1.25 for discount eligible riders".

• Payment options include: Mobile app ZipPass (download free at App Store or Google Play), Connect Card (purchased at connecttransitcard.com), monthly pass, daily pass or single ride ticket.

• In Davis, the Causeway Connection will stop at the Silo, Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility (GBSF), Mondavi Center, and Mace Blvd. In Sacramento, the Causeway Connection will use the area on 45th and Y streets, south of the UC Davis Health Medical Education Building for passenger loading and drop-off because a new transit hub is being constructed in this area and all buses/shuttles that currently drop off in front of the UC Davis Hospital are planned to be moved to this area within 2020-2021. The "final" schedule as of 4/6/2020 can be found here, while the schedule modified for COVID can be found here.

• A change from the private UCD-UCSMC shuttle service is that the Causeway Connection will not have seatbelts, as with other Yolobus and SacRT public buses (see the FAQs on this Causeway Connection page for more information).

Yolobus has many lines that run through Yolo, Sacramento, and Solano counties. Routes that run through Davis are 42A, 42B, 220, 242, 243, 43, 44, 230, and 232. The fare for non-Express buses is $2.25, but check the official fares page for more information. Also check out the map to see which routes cover which counties.

The Solano Express allows a direct connection from Davis to the East Bay. - There is only one bus route (B) that connects to Davis but it runs from Sacramento to Pleasant Hill, which connects to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART). Primarily servicing Solano county, check out the route map and current fares for planning your trip. Individual routes of Solano Express are operated by Fairfield and Suisun Transit (FAST) and Solano County Transit (SolTrans).

Amtrak can take you out of Davis. - The Capitol Corridor line runs from Auburn to San Jose, stopping by the Davis Amtrak station. Booking your trip will give you the most recent fare prices.