Stony Brook’s Mobility and Parking Services (MAPS) switched to a different parking management system over winter break. From using physical hang tangs to a Mobile/Fixed License Plate Recognition (LPR) system, these new changes are part of three different phases, two of which are currently underway.
Phase one began Jan. 15 by introducing the new parking system to the Research and Development, West and South campuses. Phase two began Jan. 27, with the expansion of the new parking system to the Administration Garage and Life Sciences Lot. Phase three will extend the system to the East Campus parkers, but a date has not been announced for when that will begin. Regardless of which area the car is parked in, all parkers must register their vehicles to park in their designated lots and can do so on the parking portal home page.
Before this change, MAPS officials explained that they used two separate, outdated systems, which is what led to this transition. They stated that it is easier to register a vehicle online, which eliminates the need for parkers to pick up a physical pass and risk forgetting to hang it in their car.
“Without the need for physical hang tags, parking patrons no longer have to worry about remembering to bring their hang tag each time they park on campus. They can simply register their vehicle in the parking management system and park on campus,” MAPS officials wrote in an email sent to The Statesman.
MAPS officials also highlighted the benefit of limiting the waste from producing and dispensing the hang tags.
“Stony Brook will also eliminate waste from the printing (and distributing) of over 12,000 hang tags on an annual basis going forward. Behind-the-scenes, it will allow our MAPS team to better track dates/times that each parking lot is used, and give us the flexibility to communicate with parking patrons directly through the parking management system,” they wrote.
Maisha Ahmed, a junior majoring in business management, commutes to Stony Brook and renews her parking every semester to ensure she’s able to park in commuter lots. She described the system as more effective and helpful in limiting potential mistakes.
“I feel this system is better because of the [online] recognition system. Before, students would have to wait to receive the pass or sometimes it would get lost in the mail, and then the student would no longer be able to park in the spot they paid for,” Ahmed said.
She also mentioned the environmental and potential financial benefit for the school to no longer utilize resources on printing and giving out physical hang tags.
“Since there are no physical passes involved, it’s also better for the environment and allows the school to save the money spent on making the physical passes and instead use the money in some other way,” Ahmed said.
Other changes this online system offers is users being able to manage their vehicle information themselves, which includes making changes to vehicle information without needing a new physical pass. Those who pay for parking monthly can set up an automatic charge with recurring payments, rather than the former system that required that they log in manually to pay each month.
