Usually, yes. This is done through the PaTS office and if a refund is due, it will be processed when your virtual permit is deactivated. Night permits may not be refunded after the second week of class that semester. For more information, see the Refund Schedule.
CRI deck requires permits or payment at all times. Permit holders may park on Level 2 and above. Elsewhere, permits are currently not enforced between 10 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday with the exception of football home-game weekends; then, all vehicles must have a valid UNCC permit or display a valid game day event permit.
Yes, and every car in the carpool must be specifically registered as such with PaTS. Each carpool uses a single carpool virtual permit with multi vehicle registration. For more information about carpools, please visit the PaTS office or call 704-687-0161 for details. For those looking for carpool partners, ShareTheRideNC.org offers free carpool matching.
Motorcycles and mopeds also have virtual permits. They can be registered alone or may be added to a multi-vehicle permit, but only one vehicle registered to that permit is allowed on campus at a time. Please call 704-687-0161 or visit the PaTS Office for further details.
Yes. Faculty/Staff may register up to three vehicles on their account at any given time; students may register up to two. However, only one vehicle per account may be parked on campus at the same time (unless parked in a visitor parking area) and vehicle registration must comply with Parking Ordinance Section 2-1.
Yes. Parking on campus requires a permit or payment of visitor parking fees whenever the University is open (weekdays from 5 a.m. Monday until 10 p.m. Friday).
Parking and Transportation Services offers several permit and payment options so that you can select a permit that meets your needs and budget.
The majority of the permit proceeds and Visitor Parking fees goes toward:
A small percentage is used for operations such as:
Yes. Students, faculty and staff can ride the fare-free Niner Transit bus system. The bus system operates campuswide, seven days a week, from early morning to late at night.
You can also use the Gotcha Mobility app to rent one of the many e-scooters or pedal-assist bikes located on campus.
Niner Paratransit provides disability transport for those with mobility impairments who are registered for the service, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Yes! Students have the option to purchase a permit by the semester. Note, however, that if you plan to be on campus the entire academic year (and possibly a summer session or two), it is less expensive to purchase the annual permit.
All full-time permits are for the academic year, but if you graduate or withdraw any time before April 15, you can return your permit for a prorated refund. For more information, see the Refund Schedule.
Yes, here’s why: if permits were sold on a one-to-one-ratio, thousands of students would be denied the privilege to park while lots and decks would sit half empty. Few students occupy a space for more than five or six hours a day. Also, not everyone has classes or works here daily. Therefore, parking spaces turn over constantly. Sure, convenient, close-in parking is at a premium during weekday hours, but so far, PaTS has managed to maintain an acceptable percentage of open spaces most of the time. That’s why drastic measures like permit sale limits and excluding freshmen residents from having cars have, so far, been avoided.
No, not unless your vehicle is registered in a state which provides both front and rear plates or if you purchase and properly install a custom front license plate from PaTS.
The LPR-readable front plate option will have your state-issued plate number printed onto a UNC Charlotte plate. Price is $20. You do not have to pay to renew the plate when your permit expires unless the state-issued rear plate number changes. To purchase a front plate, order your permit online. Then email pats@uncc.edu with the subject, “front plate.” Be sure to state the license plate number(s) of the vehicle(s) to which you are adding the front plate(s). You will be notified by email when the option to pay for the front plate(s) is available to you in the MyPark portal.
To purchase a permit online:
To purchase a permit in person
Front counter staff are available by appointment to help with questions related to parking permits and citations. Customers are expected to take safety precautions while visiting the PaTS office. Customers must make an appointment online.
Plan for peak times. Based upon how classes are scheduled, the highest demand for parking is Mondays through Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. with the greatest pressure on Wednesdays (highest concentration of scheduled classes). If you have classes during that time, either arrive before 9 a.m. park or plan to park around the outer edge of campus, such as the lower portion of Lot 6 (on Cameron Boulevard by Campus Edge), North or CRI decks, and take a NinerTransit bus in.
Remember these peak times when registering for classes. If you have the flexibility to take another section of a course at an off-peak time, it's worth considering.
The primary factor that determines permit price is the cost of new deck construction and replacing flat lots with decks. It’s expensive to build and maintain new parking facilities necessary to accommodate enrollment and demand. Existing surface lots make way for new buildings; those spaces must be replaced with decks.
If you’re unable to purchase a permit before classes and permit enforcement begins, you may set up your online UNCCMyPark account and buy temporary, single-day permits for as many days as you need. Price is $8 per day. When you are ready to get an annual or semester permit, complete your permit purchase through the app or website and your parking permissions will be updated. Please allow 15 minutes from daily permit purchase to registration with gate equipment.
Log in to your UNCCMyPark account and update your vehicle information. Your virtual parking permit will then be valid for that vehicle. Vehicles associated with customer accounts must follow the guidelines stated in the Parking Ordinance Section 2-1(5).
If online access is not readily available, you can always contact our PaTS Communication Center at 704-687-0161 and they can assist with updating your account.
There are two ways to temporarily link your parking permissions to the license plate of a temporary vehicle (such as a rental car).
If you’ve added the temporary vehicle information yourself, remember to remove it from your account when finished driving that vehicle. Otherwise, future parking citations/fees associated with the temporary vehicle may continue to be linked to your account.
Each virtual permit has corresponding permissions that assign where and when the vehicle may park. The permissions are linked to the owner’s account and verified via license plate recognition and 49er Card.
You will need to identify lots and decks that apply to your type of permit - resident, commuter and faculty/staff. You may park anywhere within those lots; spots are first-come, first-served. Lots and decks are located throughout campus, but you may not be able to park as close to your classes or destination as you want to. You should plan ahead and allow yourself time to find a spot during high traffic times.
For commuters, parking further out in lots like North Deck and CRI Deck will allow you to find a spot easily and quickly. Then you can hop on Niner Transit and ride to your destination.
View the campus parking map.
During the first two weeks of class, parking on campus is always challenging, especially at the onset of fall semester. That's because nearly everyone affiliated with UNC Charlotte comes to campus: full-time, part-time, graduate, evening, resident, commuting and even online students need to come on campus to conduct business such as paying tuition and buying textbooks, etc., even if they're not here for a class. Add to that all the faculty and staff – plus quite a few visiting families and friends – and it's easy to see why it gets so crowded with cars here. But soon schedules settle into a rhythm and more spaces become available.
Our transit charters will generally travel anywhere within a twenty (20) mile radius of the UNC Charlotte main campus. If your trip requires travel further from campus, we can assist with motor coach charters. Please contact our office at 704-687-0271 or email charterbus@uncc.edu for details.
As soon as you are aware of any changes you need to make, please contact our office. If greater than 48 hours from your charter, please email your changes to charterbus@uncc.edu. If less than 48 hours from the charter, please call 704-687-0271. As long as the driver has not already been dispatched, we can make the changes for you in most cases without penalty. Drivers are typically dispatched approximately two (2) hours or more prior to the trip depending on the pick-up time and location.
You can meet your bus outside of baggage claim area D across from passenger vehicle pick-up. Please note that airport security will not permit the bus to sit at the pickup location unless the entire group is ready to load. Therefore, the group should not call for the bus until the entire group is waiting outside of baggage claim area D with all of their luggage.
The Gotcha Rider Experience team is always ready to help. Call or text 844-254-7174 or contact support@ridegotcha.com.
No, not unless your vehicle is registered in a state which provides both front and rear plates or if you purchase and properly install a custom front license plate from PaTS. Permits are verified through license plate recognition (LPR). LPR requires a clear license plate view from the drive lane. If you wish to back in, you may purchase an alternative front plate from PaTS for $20.
To purchase a front plate, order your permit online. Then email pats@uncc.edu with the subject, “front plate.” Be sure to state the license plate number(s) of the vehicle(s) to which you are adding the front plate(s). You will be notified by email when the option to pay for the front plate(s) is available to you in the MyPark portal. All vehicle plates must be properly mounted using the vehicle manufacturer’s mounting location.
If the camera can’t get a good picture of the license plate, it won’t be able to read it. Don’t worry, though – you’ll still be able to park. If you have a virtual permit and are parking in a gated area appropriate to your permit, tap your 49er ID Card on the equipment column, hold it there until it beeps, and the gate will open.
The camera reads plates based on basic attributes such as reflectivity, size, position, and contrast. Harder to read plates include:
In these cases, your 49er ID Card serves as a secondary credential to access parking, so remember to keep it handy.
Do you consistently have to use your 49er ID card to enter gated areas?
If you answered “yes” to that question and also expect to have more than one vehicle associated with your virtual parking permit, please go to mypark.uncc.edu and double-check which vehicles are assigned to your virtual permit. Checking and cleaning up historical vehicle data in the accounts increases the accuracy of the license plate recognition and may even correct LPR read-failures that some are experiencing.
Vehicles listed with a green bar to the left are active and connected to your permit. If you see a red bar (as in the example below) that vehicle is NOT associated with your permit.
Make sure that the active vehicle(s) information is accurate and correct any errors using the “edit” button.
Delete vehicles indicated with a red bar using the “remove” button, even if you want that vehicle connected to your permit. Once deleted, you may add it back and the status will change to active (green). TIP: Jot down the vehicle’s license plate number before you delete the vehicle so you can easily add it back.
Students can associate up to two vehicles to their permit and faculty/staff can associate up to three vehicles to their permit.
The PaTS Communication Center is available to walk you through the process of checking your MyPark account and trouble-shooting as needed. Just call anytime on a weekday; staff answer calls from 5 a.m. Monday through 10 p.m. Friday.
Based on the type of permit you buy, parking privileges are assigned to your vehicle license plate information and to your 49er ID card.
Equipment installed at decks and lots will scan your plate as you enter. If there is a gate, it will be signaled to lift. In lots without gates, the system recognizes vehicles with virtual permits; enforcement is alerted when cars are parked without permission.
The parking system that the University has used for many years has been discontinued. To maintain what we had without vendor support, parts, etc., is neither practical nor cost-effective. UNC Charlotte needs a parking system that is flexible, will grow with the population, and has customer-focused features such as mobile app integration.
More features can be added in the future, such as real-time space availability information.
According to North Carolina law, the University is only allowed to retain 20% of the money collected from parking citations. The remaining 80% must be remitted to the state to support local public schools (elementary, middle and high schools).
The 20% that UNC Charlotte is allowed to keep is earmarked to cover operating costs for citation collections. Unfortunately, the cost of the enforcement and collections program significantly exceeds this amount.
For short-term loading/unloading, call 704-687-0161 (PaTS Call Center) to request permission and to provide vehicle information and location. You may be given 15 minutes and will be asked to have a licensed driver attend your vehicle.
Permission for short-term loading or unloading should be requested and granted before exiting the vehicle.
An appeal must be filed within ten (10) business days through your UNCC MyPark account or in person at the PaTS office. Please allow 24 hours from time of issuance to file appeal. All appeals are read and considered; decisions are emailed.
Citations for parking violations are no longer printed and left on the vehicle, but are now sent to your uncc.edu email account. Links are provided for online payment or to submit an appeal. Citations may also be paid by mail or in person at the PaTS Office.
The first citation of the academic year is automatically reduced by 50% if paid within 10 business days from date of issue (unless citation was for forged, altered or stolen credential or physical permit; failure to pay visitor parking fee; or parking in or blocking access to space or accessibility ramp for the disabled). All subsequent penalties must be paid at full value.
List of citations enforced and violation penalties.
* Exceptions: parking in or blocking access to a space or accessibility ramp for the disabled or using stolen credentials.
PaTS has the authority to boot or tow a vehicle if citations total four (4) or more, if the combination of unpaid deck vouchers and citations totals seven (7) or more, or if unpaid fees or fines is $250 or more. In those cases, parking privileges are revoked and the vehicle is on a Tow List until the account is cleared.
Items found and turned in are sent to the Charlotte Transportation Center on a daily basis and cataloged. To claim a lost item, visit the CATS Customer Service office located in pavilion A at the Charlotte Transportation Center from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday or call 704-336-RIDE (7433).
Items turned in that are not lawfully claimed within 30 days will become property of the City of Charlotte and may be disposed of by law.
Monday, 5 a.m. - Friday, 10 p.m.
704-687-0161
9643 Poplar Lane (Building #92)
pats@uncc.edu
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays
