Universities across North America tackle campus parking issues with PayByPhone app

October 12, 2015

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’’Smart’ universities prove there’s a way to innovate the parking experience and make it easier for students and faculty to get to class on time

October 12, 2015 – Seattle, Washington, BC – Leading universities across North America today reveal how PayByPhone is helping to improve their on-campus parking. Thanks to PayByPhone, several California State Universities (CSU), plus the likes of Berkeley, Yale, The University of Texas and others now allow campus drivers to pay via their mobile phones – without the hassles of using paper permits or coins for parking.

 

Similar to busy cities everywhere, universities face some of the most complex challenges when it comes to managing their campus parking environments. Daily, weekly, monthly, semester and annual permits are just a few of the parking considerations that need to be managed efficiently – and fairly – on campus. Adding to that, there are special permissions for students, post-grads, visitors and events, which can draw thousands of visitors in just one day creating parking management chaos.

 

CSU Sacramento State and now CSU Fresno, are just two of several west coast universities who have successfully partnered with PayByPhone, the world leader in mobile payments for parking, to offer digital payments to drivers making campus life better for everyone. Although two thirds of Americans now own smart phones, PayByPhone also gives drivers who are not as tech savvy have the choice to pay online, via text or even by making a call. Transitioning to mobile has helped solve a number of major parking issues for these universities such as rising student fraud, secure payments and dynamic pricing to name just a few.

 

Universities such as Illinois, Arizona and University of Wisconsin are also using PayByPhone to efficiently manage flexible rate structures for big event days, support ‘green’ initiatives or even encourage parking during lower volume months of the year such as summer. This eliminates the need to dispute invalid charges and rates, which can frustrate faculty and students alike. The mobile service also allows for lower infrastructure and operating costs, saving money on large capital expenditures like meters and the unwieldy business of managing cash and coins.

 

“PayByPhone has long recognized that universities have what traditionally were viewed as intractable mobility challenges. The good news is that most of these can now easily be solved through our mobile technology,” says Kush Parikh, President at PayByPhone. “We recognize that universities need flexible parking solutions and our services can be scaled quickly and tailored to suit their different parking environments, which virtualizes the parking experience for every driver.”

 

Tony Lucas, M.A. Ed, Senior Director at University Transportation and Parking Services, Sacramento State, comments: “We used to have long lines at our daily parking permit machines, but not anymore!  We started using PayByPhone two years ago and have seen a steady increase in participation from our daily parkers.  Approximately 35% of Sacramento State’s daily permit holders now utilize PayByPhone to purchase their parking permits.”

Lucas continues: “To support the migration to mobile, Sac State offers “Free Parking” for the first two days of each semester for those students using PayByPhone.  The two day promotion is seen by many of our students as a good incentive to transition to mobile payments.”

In a fast paced world ‘smart’ universities embracing mobile parking applications like PayByPhone are growing fast. In fact, they’re paving the way by building truly connected campuses for the mobile generation. By solving traditional parking hassles and cutting costs through innovation, universities are making the grade nicely.

 

ABOUT PAYBYPHONE

PayByPhone, has been the global leader in mobile payments for parking and urban mobility since 2001, operating in hundreds of cities, universities and municipalities in North America, Europe and Australia. Delivering convenience, efficiency and security to parking authorities, private operators and consumers, the company enables payments via apps, mobile-web, online and dial-in (IVR).  PayByPhone also provides electronic permits, license plate recognition (LPR) integration for parking lots as well as payment of violation notices. Other urban mobility payment solutions include tolling, transit, bike rentals and electric vehicle recharging. PayByPhone has over 10 million users worldwide and in major cities such as San Francisco, Miami, Seattle, Dallas, Vancouver, Lon­don, Paris and Geneva.

 

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T: +1 866 787 7787 | sales@paybyphone.com | www.paybyphone.com | a PayPoint Plc product

 

Contact:

Nicole Mondville

Marketing Director, PayByPhone

nicolemondville@paypoint.com

+44 79 5016 1874