Kent State University’s Parking and Transit Services is piloting a parking app this fall for commuter lots. When the app is fully operational, it will allow users to determine if a parking lot is full or has vacant spaces. As part of the pilot program, the commuter lot behind Verder Hall will be the first to use the technology.
Magnetic sensors located inside a small speed bump will detect when a driver enters or exits the lot, keeping track of the number of available spaces. A visible LED display will be located near the entrance of the parking lot to indicate if the lot is full. The technology is wireless and runs on solar power, keeping with the university’s green initiatives.
“We’ve been using similar technology for our Kent Student Center parking lot for the last couple of years,” says Larry Emling, manager of Parking and Transit Services at Kent State. “You can check the Kent State mobile app to see the occupancy of that lot at any given time. We’ve been exploring different opportunities for other lots for about a year. We wanted to know, on a basic level, what we could do to count cars as they come and go to determine if there is occupancy in a lot. We finally selected a company, Parking Logix, to install the technology as a pilot project.”
The LED counter at the Verder lot was operational for the start of fall classes. The next step will be to develop an app so drivers can quickly see if the lot they want to park in has available spaces.
Emling says the app should be in place later this fall and will benefit commuter students.
“We see this primarily as a product we would use in our commuter lots,” he says. “If you’re 10 minutes away and the app shows you a parking lot is close to capacity, you can choose a different lot. Hopefully, it will allow people the opportunity to plan their day a little better and minimize some of the traffic congestion, too.”
For more information about Kent State’s Parking Services, visit www.kent.edu/parking.
