University of California - Irvine
- Transportation

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University of California - Irvine - Transportation - College ProwlerCollege Prowler3.46

Transportation

Quick Stats

Best Ways to Get Around Town
  • A bike
  • Mooch off of a commuter friend
  • OCTA Buses - they are free, just bring your ID to UCItems and get it encoded
  • On foot
Best Ways to Get to the Airport
  • A cab ride to the airport costs about $15.
  • John Wayne Airport is just under 2.5 miles away from UCI, and takes approximately five minutes to get there.

Student Author OverviewWhat's This?

In general, UCI students feel that the public transportation system in and around Irvine is inadequate at best, and students are definitely best off if they bring a car with them to campus. Irvine isn’t exactly a centralized metropolis—things here are pretty spread out. Buses can sometimes take up to two hours to get to a city that would ordinarily take only 20 minutes by car. On a better note, the city of Irvine’s bus system does serve some of the school’s apartment complexes, so students without a car do have that as an option. Public transportation—albeit free with an encoded UCI ID—is not exactly the best way to go if you’ve only got time for a quick night on the town. By the time you hit your destination, it’d be time for you to be heading back!

Fortunately, at UCI, there’s a rather large student commuter population to befriend and mooch off of. There are some shuttle systems around that service the area, but relying on them to get you back and forth means putting restrictions on your own schedule. To some students, the poor public transportation is just typical of the Southern California area. In the end, most students would say that your best bet is to hitch a ride with some friends if you are all going out to paint the town! Otherwise, good luck trying to cope with the Orange County public transportation systems.

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UC Irvine Student ReviewsWhat's This?

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Transportation at University of California - Irvine

amyvo13

'14

Business Administration and Management

3.8
B+

Available, but Crowded

Shuttle takes you to school, it just gets extremely crowded on the bus at times.

Jan 04, 2012

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Transportation at University of California - Irvine

super3man5

'14

Biology and Biological Sciences

4.2
A-

Where Do You Live?

It all depends where you live. If you live somewhere like VDC, VDC Norte, or Arroyo Vista, free service shuttles will be your best friend. If you live somewhere like Mesa Court or Middle Earth, walking or using a bike is your best option. Everywhere else, it depends. Having a car is useful but if you are willing to pay for a permit to park on campus and a permit to park at your housing parking lot.

Nov 10, 2011

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Transportation at University of California - Irvine

Karinag1

'15

Business Administration and Management

4.6
A

Amazing Shuttle Service

UC Irvine has a shuttle service that takes you just about anywhere and and it comes to the very near shuttle stops in very short intervals of time. The service goes as far as the nearest town which is convenient for any necessary purposes at a mall.

Oct 01, 2011

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Student Survey Poll ResultsWhat's This?

Rate the cost of the following transit options

Rate the convenience of the following transit options

Rate the convenience of long-distance transportation to travel between home and school

How convenient is the campus-provided transportation?

How necessary is it to have a car on campus?

How easy is it to get around town?

Campus ShuttleWhat's This?

UCI Shuttle Service

(949) 824-5547

7:30 a.m.–10:45 p.m.

UCI Escort by request

(949) 824-7233

Public TransitWhat's This?

Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA)

(714) 560-OCTA

www.octa.net

Nearest AirportWhat's This?

John Wayne Airport

18601 Airport Way

(949) 252-5200

www.ocair.com

Nearest Passenger BusWhat's This?

Greyhound

The Greyhound Trailways Bus Terminal is in Anaheim, approximately 20 miles from campus.

(800) 231-2222

www.greyhound.com

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Most Recent Student Author

College Prowler guides are in the hands of students throughout the entire process. Because you can't make student-written guides without the students, we have students at each campus who write, edit, and survey their peers for every guide that we publish. Thanks to our most recent student author at UCI

Name: Tracey Xuan Nguyen

Hometown: Hawthorne, CA

Major: Business Economics

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