Many people see UCT’s campus as easily accessible by car and expect parking to be provided. The increased demand for parking has seen many inappropriate areas being allocated for parking and this has caused damage to the environment.

This situation has arisen because of an increase in the number of students, increased car usage and a longer day spent on campus.

At the same time, UCT wishes to be open and accessible to the wider community.

Further surface parking (with some exceptions in outlying areas) will not be increased, and the creation of further structured parking (above or below ground) is not within the university’s financial reach.

UCT’s Access Management Plan tackles the issue of parking and aims to provide equitable and safe access to the campus while improving quality of life and environmental values. It calls for the creation of park-and-ride facilities, both on and off campus. The idea is to provide free parking for staff and students to ease the parking demand on campus and closer to the academic buildings.

Parking privileges for staff, students and visitors differ and priorities have been agreed as follows:

1. mobility impaired drivers
2. visitors
3. staff whose functions require access and parking
4. staff remote from campus (or public transport)
5. staff living close to campus (with access to the bus service)
6. senior students remote from campus (or public transport)
7. junior students remote from campus (or public transport)
8. students living close to campus (with access to the bus service)
9. students in residence.

Parking on campus and in designated park-and-ride sites is restricted to cars displaying a current parking disc or visitor’s permit (blue slip).

The pricing of parking discs takes into account the convenience of parking on campus and the cost of alternative arrangements. The concept of overselling (the number of discs sold beyond the number of discs available in a particular area) is part of the system and depends on the seniority of the disc-holder and the corresponding type of disc. Red bays are oversold to a limited extent to ensure the availability of vacant bays at most times of day, while student bays are oversold to an unlimited extent.

No bays are reserved for staff or students on a permanent basis other than bays authorised by the disability service for the sole use of disabled persons.

Traffic rules

• Traffic rules for staff
• Traffic rules for students

Parking discs

Parking discs are only valid for the specific vehicle for which the disc has been purchased (except for student lift clubs).

First-year students may not bring onto, or park on university property, any vehicle other than a motorcycle.

A controlled access area has been established on the Upper Campus by means of two sets of booms on the ring road. Traffic office staff control these booms in order to limit access to staff, certain graduate students, authorised visitors and parents transporting their children to the Educare Centre, as long as they are displaying a valid disk.

The following types of discs/permits are available to staff, students and visitors:

Red parking disc

• All staff may purchase these parking discs for an annual fee. This allows them to park in a marked red parking bay in a designated area, or park in a red parking bay in any other area or any other campus.
• University Council members may obtain a red parking disc free of charge. This allows them to park in any red or yellow parking bay.
• All staff and students with disabilities who have met the criteria issued by the disability service, may purchase a red parking disc endorsed as disabled, for an annual fee. This allows them park in a disabled bay.

Yellow parking disc

• All staff may purchase these parking discs for an annual fee. This allows them to search for parking in yellow parking bays in designated areas. Staff holding yellow parking discs may only park in yellow parking bays on all campuses.
• Students employed by the university and earning a minimum of R21 700 per month qualify for tennis court parking.

Blue parking disc

• All students, except first-years, may purchase these parking discs for an annual fee. This allows them to search for parking in an unmarked parking bay on all campuses.

Green parking disc

• All student residents in Upper Campus Residence and Fuller Hall may purchase these parking discs for an annual fee. This allows them to park in a specific numbered bay in the parking area between the residences.

Temporary parking disc

• Visitors to the campus for more than one day are entitled to purchase these discs for a daily fee. This entitles them to park in yellow or unmarked parking bays.
• Students, second-year and above, may purchase temporary parking discs from the Visitor Reception and Information centre or the Traffic Administration Office at a cost per day, week and month to park in unmarked bays on all campuses.

Transit disc

• Parents of children attending the Educare Centre are entitled to apply for this disc. This allows them to enter the controlled area on Upper Campus in order to drop off and collect children.

Black parking disc

• All staff and students who access the campus on a motorcycle are required to purchase this disc for an annual fee. This allows them to park in designated areas.

Rhodes Memorial parking disc

• First-year and other students may apply for this disc. There are 58 bays.

Visitor’s permit

• Casual and regular commercial visitors (any person who is not a registered student or staff member), visiting the campus, are entitled to obtain a visitor’s permit (blue slip), free of charge. This allows them to park in a visitor’s bay for a period not exceeding the time limit prescribed on the permit.

For carpooling, more than one but not more than 4 students may purchase, for a fee, a single blue parking disc for up to 4 vehicles.

Staff and students may purchase a disc for more than one vehicle provided they are owned by the same person.

Student parking disc holders in residence may park in designated areas near their respective residences and within the grounds of off-campus residences. These students may also park in unmarked bays on any campus.

Student disc holders in Upper Campus Residence and Fuller Halls may not park on the Upper Campus except in the designated parking area.

Red and yellow parking discs are valid for a calendar year. Student parking discs are issued for a calendar year and remain valid until 1 March of the next calendar year.