Ring Mall, widely known as Outer Ring Road, facilitates the majority of student traffic during the school week. Swarms of pedestrians, bikes and scooters congest the campus-long circuit Monday through Friday. Some two-wheeled commuters cut through dense crowds while others walk their vehicles — a choice that UCI’s Transportation and Distribution Services (T&DS) and Police Department (UCIPD) try to encourage through enforcement.
Yet, police involvement in bike safety has raised questions about UCI’s dedication to being a bike-friendly university despite national recognition of UCI as a college campus ideal for biking.
Signs throughout Ring Mall are cite UCI Policy Section 904-13. T&DS’ policy limits bikes, scooters and “skate devices” to bike-friendly paths from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on all weekdays. Ring Mall is excluded from these designated paths.
Both the UCIPD and Bike and Safety Officers (BSOs) give citations regularly. BSOs receive the authority to issue citations campuswide to commuters violating Ring Mall vehicle policy from T&DS.
For riding on Ring Mall or any other vehicle restricted area, a violator can expect a $30 fine. Additionally, exceeding the eight mile per hour speed limit or engaging in any other reckless riding warrants a $45 fine.
While the UCI campus does offer a 20 mile network of shared paths, Ring Mall is uncontested as the main thoroughfare for all students. Despite 30 years of it being a pedestrian-only path by rule, reasons vary for why Ring Mall is still the route of choice for prohibited two-wheelers.
Third-year biology and psychology student Ingrid Veronika Hommeltoft is an electric scooter rider who told New University that she was unaware of the policy’s validity.
“I heard about it, I thought it was kind of a joke,” Hommeltoft told New University. “I see people [on vehicles] all the time so I figured, it’s not that serious.”
Other commuters, aware of Ring Mall’s policy, abide by the rules but not without disagreement.
“Most of our classes are here,” second- year materials science and engineering student Oscar Cortez told New University. “There’s bike racks right here … In order to access these bike racks, we kind of have to bike here.”
Electric scooter rider and second-year economics student Yuhan Bao shared the same sentiment.
“It’s such a large campus that we have,” Bao told New University. “Not having the right to ride the campus is really not quite convenient for students.”
Even still, UCI has been considered a top Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) by the League of American Bicyclists since 2011. The university currently holds Platinum-level status as a BFU — the highest status, shared by only 10 other universities in the United States as of 2025. However, the UCI’s membership has not been renewed since 2023.
Among the Platinum BFUs, University of California, Davis reigns supreme as the only one to renew its status in 2025. In a video from the League of American Bicyclists in 2016 discussing the university’s achievement as a BFU, UC Davis Landscape Architect Skip Mezger shared his approach to supporting bike culture on campus.
“Any sort of growth requires more and more bike parking, bike lanes … it’s essential that we design the bike systems for ease, for safety and for convenience,” Mezger said in the video.
To determine what schools are BFUs, the League of American Bicyclists devised the 5 E’s Framework, but recently amended their standards by removing Enforcement as one of the criteria. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, the League of American Bicyclists released a statement explaining the decision as a step towards racial equity in sustainable transportation.
“The racial disparities in over-policing of our streets is a barrier that prevents many from considering biking for transportation or recreation,” Amelia Neptune of the League of American Bicyclists wrote in the statement.
While UCI’s T&DS did succeed in the criteria well enough to earn Platinum status as a BFU, recent enforcement with police has raised questions about UCI’s dedication to being a bike-friendly university.
In an email interview with New University, T&DS declined to comment whether they support police involvement in bike safety.
T&DS Sustainable Programs Manager Erika Hennon named Whimcycle and uciRIDEtoberfest — both annual events — as well as their Bike Education and Enforcement Program as part of their “year-round safety education” in her email. The only educational resource offered throughout the year is the League of American Bicyclists’s online Smart Cycling course.
Little was said of the relationship between the two organizations other than a broad description of their roles.
“We partner with UC Irvine Police on theft prevention and serious safety concerns, while T&DS leads on infrastructure, education and policy implementation,” Hennon wrote to New University.
In an interview with New University, UCI Police Accountability Board (PAB) member Andrea Soriano clarified the police’s role in Ring Mall enforcement.
“Ultimately, they do make a lot of their own decisions,” Soriano told New University, referring to UCIPD’s role despite communication with the UCI administration and T&DS.
Although UCI’s PAB was created as a way for students to give feedback on police activity on campus, Soriano observed that it is largely underutilized — especially when it comes to discontentedness about Ring Mall policy.
“Students, I feel like, have been upset about this,” Soriano said. “And I feel like not many students take action to go to either the police or go to an organization that can bring up the issue a little more loudly.”
While PAB is one outlet for students to provide feedback, Soriano evaluated the police as “mildly responsive.” T&DS remains responsible for Ring Mall and, in the end, it’s their policy that UCIPD is sent to enforce the area.
Griffin Chan is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer for the winter 2026 quarter. He can be reached at griffilc@uci.edu.
Edited by Annabelle Aguirre
