On Thursday, April 24, Stony Brook University’s Mobility and Parking Services (MAPS) presented various projects in transportation accessibility and technological changes to the Undergraduate Student Government (USG). 

Kendra Violet, the executive director of parking and transportation, opened the meeting by highlighting MAPS’ recent and upcoming transportation accessibility efforts.

Violet announced that as of June 1, MAPS will shift from using school-styled buses to transit-style ones. She briefly explained a main reason toward this change is that transit style is more accessible compared to school buses.

She emphasized that despite this change, MAPS will not get rid of its Para-Transit system, a transportation service for students and faculty that require accommodations due to disabilities or injury.

Violet then explained the decision to switch from the previous transportation tracking app, DoubleMap, to ETA Spot. She cited two main reasons: First, DoubleMap was being shut down as an app, and second, MAPS needed to issue a request for proposal — a document inviting vendors to submit proposals for a project, detailing their solutions, costs and other relevant factors — as required by New York State law.

“We launched [ETA Spot because DoubleMap] no longer exists — that’s why we had to [step] away from it,” she said. “It was also time for us to do a request for proposal because you can only have a contract for so long according to [New York] State laws.” 

Violet noted that the new app includes features that were not available in DoubleMap, such as real-time audio announcements for each stop to improve accessibility for visually-impaired users.

She shared another feature of the app: it will display all incoming buses and their routes with estimated arrival times. It will also show each bus’s capacity, enabling riders to avoid waiting for a full bus and offering them the chance to adjust their plans or route if needed.

Violet then shifted the conversation to address technical issues within the Wolf Ride Bike Share service. 

“We’re still looking at ways to expand [the service]. One of our drought areas is East Campus, so connecting the West and East campus for students,” she said. “We’ll be looking at where we would expand the bike service. Keep in mind, Seawolves Village and [other projects] would be areas we’d need to expand.”

At-large Senator Robert Diver offered a few suggestions to improve the bike share service. He mentioned that the checkout codes on some bikes have worn off over time, preventing users from being able to input the code at the kiosk to use the bikes. 

“[When] you have to type in the code to take the bike out, [some] are scratched off,” he said. 

He suggested MAPS use a screen at the bike share areas to provide their individual codes as an alternate solution.

MAPS also provides an app called Wolf Rides, in which users connect their student information to the app and are able to see bike station availability, bus locations and other navigational features.

Diver also recommended that at each bike station a quick-response (QR) code could be available for users to scan, which would direct them to the app to report any issues with bikes or the station itself. 

At-large Senator Emelio Harris added on to Diver’s suggestion by saying each station should have a system to only report issues tailored to that particular station.

“The bikes at the West Apartments don’t work at all,” Harris said. “The system is completely down and [people] can’t unlock the bikes, so they’ve been sitting there for two semesters. Having a system where [students] can report any issues at that specific station [would be helpful].”

Violet informed Harris that during the summer of 2024, there was construction that damaged the bikes. She assured him that MAPS is trying to solve this issue and said she’d talk to other faculty to have an update on progress in fixing that station. 

She also shared that each station provides an email for users to contact in case a station or bike is not functioning. However, Violet agreed that a QR code would be a more convenient solution that users may feel more inclined to use.

Violet then discussed adding more electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. She shared that MAPS requires students to register their vehicles and request a parking pass, where they must list whether the car is electric or gas-powered. 

Violet explained that MAPS collects this data and shares it with the New York Power Authority to monitor how much of each vehicle is registered and on campus. 

“If you guys have a parking permit, you probably noticed when you registered your vehicle, we asked [whether it was gas, hybrid, diesel or electric],” she said. “The reason we’re asking that is so that we can track if there’s an increase in electric vehicles, especially in residential areas, so that we can pinpoint where we need to increase the number of electric chargers on campus.”

She also said that MAPS will be installing six new EV charging stations in the Mendelsohn and H Community.

During the conversation, at-large Senator Taher Motiwala asked Violet if there will be any efforts to introduce electric bicycles similar to the bike share system. 

Violet explained that this idea has been discussed, but MAPS is considering how to make it a possible feature.

“[MAPS has] been working with multiple parties on how to [introduce] charging [stations] for electric bikes and electric scooters,” Violet shared. “We would like to do it by solar power versus ground and wired power.”

Violet shared her concern over student safety due to the level of accidents with bikes and scooters.

“My biggest concern is safety and making sure we have the infrastructure to have those types of micromobility options on campus,” she added. “So an electric bike and electric scooter should not be on the sidewalk. It should only be operated on roadways or on designated bike paths.”

Motiwala recommended MAPS potentially add designated bike lanes to their roadways.

“There [are] a couple of roadways outside of Stony Brook which [have] bike lanes,” he pointed out.

Violet explained in order to accommodate a lane for bikes and scooters, it would lead to a larger project of having to widen the roadways to create room. 

She shifted the conversation to discuss changes toward MAPS’ parking services. She mentioned MAPS switching to a different parking management system over winter break of this academic year which no longer distributed physical parking passes. 

Violet explained the rollout was broken into three phases, with the final phase being transitioning Stony Brook University Hospital to the same system, and was completed as of March 13.

Afterward, she briefly shared that MAPS is also working toward creating a program with Campus Residences to create a late-ride option for students who need transportation at late hours.

“Right now, if somebody needs a safe ride after hours, they can call [the University Police Department (UPD)], but it’s based on UPD being available, so [they] may have to wait in order for someone to give [them] a ride. We want to figure out a way that we can do that by using an app.” 

Her final update shared that MAPS is working on creating a mobile parking payment option, eliminating the need to pay solely at meters or in parking lots.

“If you’re parking at a meter or want to go into the garage, you [will be] able to pay with your phone, which will give you notifications if your time is running out,” she added. “You can always extend your time if needed, and that will [be available] to all of [the] parking lots.”

At-large Senator Aman Mistry then shared his experience of having to register for a parking pass and asked if the enrollment day for parking will be broken into two days, something he had previously spoken to MAPS about on a separate occasion.

“I want to follow up about releasing the parking [registration] into two sessions as opposed to one,” he said. “I was on a flight to India when the parking passes dropped and I didn’t get the parking pass I normally get. So I was wondering if there are plans for that change.”

Violet replied, “One of the reasons that we released [at 10 a.m.] was because it was a brand new platform, we wanted to make sure everything was okay [with the system].”

She then added that there have been suggestions for the parking to become available at midnight, but that would create conflicts with students who would not be available at that hour. 

“This could be similar to class registration, where it could be tiered over [separate days],” Mistry said. “[There] could be two release dates, half on one day and half a day later.”

Violet emphasized that however MAPS chooses to address parking pass registration, it is based on students’ feedback. She added that students are assigned parking through a first-come, first-serve basis and once parking permits became available, they were fully claimed in 11 minutes. 

She closed her presentation by thanking the Senate for their feedback and took notes of their suggestions to share with other faculty within MAPS in hopes of implementing recommended changes.