UCLA’s graduate and professional students had something extra to be thankful for this past November — renewal of the transit pass program that provides unlimited fare-free rides (for a small fee) on bus and rail lines across Los Angeles for the next 10 years, no longer requiring an election to approve each year. Bruin Grad Pass (BGP) is the result of work across multiple UCLA Transportation units: Commuter & Parking Services, Finance, Systems & Analytics, and Mobility Planning & Traffic Systems. More than 12,400 of these passes have been sold this fiscal year.
First launched in fall 2020, students were still learning remotely with the campus closed, yet more than 1,000 Bruins registered for the pass. Now, BGP is a nationally recognized program, winning a Commuting Options in Public Transit Award from the Association for Commuter Transportation for being an exemplary program that decreases drive-alone trips and carbon emissions. Transportation also rolled out two other new transit passes this fiscal year: the Commuter All Access Pass (more than 550 sold), which is offered at a discount and available through the BruinTAP for Transit portal, and the Bruin U-Pass for undergraduate students (more than 33,000 have been sold).
Many at UCLA Transportation will keep BGP rolling — now through 2034. Here’s a look at some of the program’s moving parts from the contributors.
Roy Marubayashi, Technology Project Manager
As the project manager responsible for the program, I coordinated with several organizations, including L.A. Metro and UCLA’s Central Ticket Office, Student Affairs, Graduate Student Association (GSA) and Administration Marketing and Communications to make this happen with a compressed schedule (only three months) so that the passes would be available at the start of the academic year. The project team developed the architecture, design and implementation plan for BGP and delivered it on time with minimal issues.
Priyanka Srivastava, Application Development Manager, and Armando Vasquez, Applications Programmer
Significant changes were required on the transit portal for BGP— the online platform where UCLA passes get acquired—that’s where my team enhances the application for assorted products. We hadn’t done something this complex before, determining eligibility for the 13,000 students who qualified for the pass and handling this high volume of distribution. We simplified a TAP card scanning process under that aggressive deadline, too. There was also a lot of learning in customer implementation with BGP that we later applied to the undergraduate transit pass.
Brian Campillo, Bruin Commuter Programs Analyst
Recently, I participated in meetings to share my operational and customer service experience, to offer advice and created communications for the customer relationship management team, helping troubleshoot inquiries. For Priyanka and Armando, I obtained the list of graduate students who qualify for BGP to be sure they were eligible in the transit portal. This fall was the first introduction of activation codes for pass renewal. I developed an automation that sent renewing customers an email with instructions. We've moved that process into the portal for the winter quarter.
David Karwaski, Mobility Planning and Traffic Systems Director
My role was working intently to engage GSA in taking the initiative to put BGP on the ballot for approval through 2034. I connected with the president of the GSA about the transit referendum. While the department did not directly advocate for the vote, we did send an email, prepared by Nick Efron from my team, with help from marketing and communications to the student body about BGP, with a link to the election. I’ve learned this approach works, energizing students.
