How to pass the campus parking exam

Fiona Macey explains how the University of York has embraced the use of virtual parking permits

The University of York has adopted a virtual permit solution for all departmental visitor parking on its 500-acre parkland campus. This is the latest example of the higher education establishment seeking to manage its parking in a greener and more efficient manner. The virtual permits replace a paper-based system that was not only costly to run and difficult to administer but also caused delays and frustration for visitors.

The university has over 30 academic and research departments, more than 16,000 students and nearly 3,800 members of staff. These numbers seem set to grow as the initial phases of a £250m campus development and improvement programme have now been completed.

The university has long adopted a sustainable travel approach to managing transport in a bid to balance the growing demands for finite parking resources. It has implemented a series of pioneering sustainable transport initiatives to maintain accessibility, convenience and safety for everyone working on or visiting the campus as the university continues to expand. 

These initiatives encompass programmes that encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport. When it comes to the car, the university is an advocate of car-sharing and limiting use of private vehicles to essential users. 

Effective permit management is a key component of the University of York’s new five-year travel plan, which aims to build on sustainability initiatives introduced since 2011. These include a new subsidised bus service between the campus and city centre, free inter-campus travel, subsidised bus passes for staff and a wide range of activities to encourage cycling – from a Cycle to Work scheme and new dedicated cycle routes, to a bike maintenance and training service, discounted cycle products and a bike pool for occasional cyclists. The university has also introduced a UniLiftShare scheme with priority car-share bays for staff to encourage greater use of car sharing. 

Fiona Macey was the first university transport specialist to become a member of the British Parking Association (BPA) and she was instrumental in setting up the BPA’s Higher Education Steering Group. She also plays an active role in the transport stream of the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges. 

She is also a member of the scrutiny board of the Independent Appeals Service, which listens to appeals by motorists issued parking charge notices by members of the International Parking Community (IPC).

The awards secured by Macey and her colleagues at the University of York over the past few years feature both national and regional awards, including a British Parking Award, Parking and the Environment, and York Press Award for Best Sustainable Travel Initiative. 

“The university anticipates gradual but steady growth over the next 20 years, but it’s not practical, nor permissible, for us to match such expansion with a comparable increase of parking capacity,” says Fiona Macey, the university’s sustainable travel and transport manager. “The challenge, therefore, is to encourage everyone to consider alternative forms of transport and to ensure that the 2,356 parking bays on the campus are used as efficiently and fairly as possible at all times.” 

Macey has worked in partnership with Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions (ICES) to introduce a new paperless parking system. The introduction of ‘virtual permits’ is the culmination of a concerted development programme with ICES, which is the university’s long-standing civil enforcement partner. 

The ICES software development team worked closely with Macey to create a permit management module specifically for use by universities. Based on the company’s VoucherSmarti permit solution for local authorities, the new module replaces XL spreadsheets and hand-written permits. 

The new module means that departmental administrators across the campus can use an online booking system for all visitor permits required on the day or can order them in advance. The booking is then confirmed immediately on both the back-office system and the Samsung Galaxy smartphones used by the university’s patrol staff, who are known as ‘travel and transport assistants’.  The smartphones run ICES’s Rialto enforcement software.

“There’s now no need to administer and issue permit hangers to all approved visitors and the new system was so simple to install,” says Macey. “After the booking is made, everything is done automatically so it couldn’t be easier for everyone involved.  With limited availability of parking spaces, it’s not always possible for visitors to find parking spaces near the venue they are visiting. However, the new system eliminates the inconvenience and frustration of visitors needing to collect and then display a permit. 

“Significantly, the more streamlined system has made it much easier to complete all work orders and produce internal departmental invoicing for actual permit usage. This has overcome the inevitable delays and discrepancies that can arise from the batch issue of paper permits. The virtual permit saves time for our help desk team, reduces costs and environmental impact – as we no longer need paper permits and hangers – and provides us with a wealth of invaluable insight and management data.”

Macey and her colleagues are now planning to extend the use of the new permit solution to cover all types of permits for staff and students at the university.  

“In contrast to the post code requirements of a local authority, the new virtual permit module for universities uses email addresses as the unique identifier,” she explains. “And it’s fully configurable to cover all types and categories of permit for both city centre and campus universities.

“Although students living on the campus or within the York ring road are not eligible for permits and we have a fixed number of parking spaces, there are no limits on the number of permits we issue for use in the university’s permit-only and pay & display car parks. But the cost of allocating, administering, producing and posting the existing permits for more than 2,200 members of staff and nearly 600 students is very high. The use of virtual permits will provide a much more efficient solution, and it’ll be so much more convenient for everyone involved.”