UF students will be ticketed for parking violations via a virtual system linked to license plate readers starting next month.
The system, which will replace the $80 sticker decals with virtual permits, will allow campus security to digitally scan and cross-check license plates against a database to determine if the driver holds the correct permit status for the lot it is parked in.
Patrol cars mounted with license-plate-reading cameras will monitor and enforce violations, according to a UF explanation video, and parking in a way that blocks a license plate will be prohibited. Any driver who prefers to back into a parking space would have to purchase a $25 vanity license plate from the Transportation and Parking Services Office to place at the front of their vehicle.
The transition from physical to virtual decals will save UF more than $50,000 a year and allow for quicker and more accurate verification, said Scott Fox, the Senior Director of UF’s Transportation and Parking Services.
“It will allow staff to spend less time patrolling the campus for parking enforcement purposes and more time supporting special events, managing traffic and delivering other services to the university community,” Fox said.
Students will be allotted one car to register per parking permit. Faculty and staff can register up to three vehicles, but only one can be parked on campus at a time, the video explained.
Danielle Saunders, a 24-year-old UF public health and epidemiology graduate student, approved of the change; she preferred the option to avoid putting a sticker on her car. The new system, she said, will give students, faculty and staff more time to purchase a parking permit because they won’t need to wait for the stickers to arrive in mail.
Virtual parking decals for Fall semester can be purchased for students starting Aug. 8 and Aug. 15 for faculty and staff.
Contact Christian at ccasale@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @vanityhack.
Christian Casale is a history senior and the university desk editor for The Alligator. In his spare time, he loves writing his bio for the website and watching movies alone in the dark.
