Beginning Monday, students will have the opportunity to buy parking permits for the upcoming academic year, which include some changes like virtual permits, per-semester permits and parking lot availability.
According to Yolanda Jones, communications manager at NC State Transportation, one of the biggest changes in parking permits for the upcoming academic year is the transition to virtual permits, which began on July 1.
“Essentially your license plate is your permit,” Jones said. “Whenever you purchase your permit and you put in your license plate, your credentials to park are given to your license plate.”
Those who purchase permits will no longer receive a physical sticker for their windshield. Jones said that switching to virtual permits saves money and is a more efficient way to manage parking. However, there are some additional requirements.
“Because the system has to be able to see your license plate, because the car that drives through actually has to be able to see your license plate, a car cannot be backed in, unless it has a front license plate that matches the back one,” Jones said. “So, if you’re from a state like Maryland, Virginia or D.C. that require both plates then you’re good to go, you can back in all day. But if you’re not, like North Carolina, we are offering a vanity license plate, it’s $5, one-time fee that you would have to mount in the front of your vehicle to be able to back into a space.”
Cost for certain permits has also slightly increased, due to permit demand and parking upkeep.
“Pricing is based on demand and need,” Jones said. “It does cost, obviously, to keep up parking facilities and plan for new construction, new parking. We try to stay comparable to sister institutions, as well.”
Jones said another significant change is that most parking permits are now purchased per semester.
“We are going to semester-based permits,” Jones said. “One of the reasons that we chose to do that is because we do have a lot of seniors who are graduating in December or not needing a permit in the spring so we’re making it so students have to buy those per semester so it’ll be split up in cost.”
Students who apply and purchase a permit during the fall semester will have the option to renew their permit for the spring semester.
According to Jones, certain parking lots that were previously student parking will now only be available to employees.
“The Bragaw lot and the RE lot along East Dunn Avenue are going to turn into employee parking,” Jones said. “Those two areas are no longer going to be student parking and it’s just honestly the use of resources and how many people are parking there and just it’s a better use of resources to allow employees to park there.”
Bikes will also need to be registered with the Transportation office.
“This year we are making it mandatory that students, staff, campus visitors register their bicycles with us,” Jones said. “It is no cost so it is a free registration, however bikes must be registered with our office. And this is just to help us with bike inventory. When we have abandoned bikes, being able to find owners that are associated with those bikes.”
Permits can be purchased beginning on Monday through NC State Transportation’s website. Eligibility for purchasing permits can be found online.
