California State University, Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) parking technology is about to get an upgrade and maintenance that was halted due to COVID-19 will also begin to roll out across campus.
University Police Department (UPD) Chief Earl Lawson and Parking Director Vickie Rahman gave a presentation at a Nov. 6 Associated Students (AS) weekly senate meeting on the new technology being introduced to CSUMB’s parking lots and upcoming maintenance.
Lawson informed the crowd of about 30 attendees that the current short-term parking technology on campus is outdated and the UPD wants to move away from paper parking permits. In 2019, CSUMB’s parking services decided to move away from hang-tag permits and transition to automated license plate reader technology. This would allow people to control their parking permits from their phones; the proposal was pushed back due to the pandemic.
Another pressing matter of Lawson’s presentation was that over Thanksgiving break, Lot 71 is going to be repainted. If students who are staying over the break will be affected by this, they are urged to contact UPD or the parking office to find a temporary parking situation. The “outdated” parking kiosks around campus will also eventually be replaced.
Five Flowbird parking kiosks have been purchased by the University to integrate license plate reader technology and create a positive user experience. The machines will not arrive until January. Once the university has the machines, they will work quickly to get them up and running as soon as possible. The new machines will have tap-to-pay and card readers. Lawson emphasized that parking needs to be safe and easy to use.
Advertisements of The Wave, CSUMB’s campus shuttle, will also increase. The Wave is funded by student fees but runs under the UPD’s jurisdiction. The plan for CSUMB includes three major parking lots with a shuttle stop at each lot. Raju Ceerla was recently hired by the university, serving as the Transportation Program Coordinator. He will be speaking at the next AS Senate meeting to cover topics such as The Wave and the overall access to transportation around campus.
Lawson encourages students to reach out to the police department with any questions or concerns about any of these parking changes. If students don’t feel comfortable going to the UPD, AS provides opportunities to pass along questions to the police.
Ah. So no actually spots are going to be created. We need a parking structure.