Officials at the West Windsor Parking Authority are targeting January to roll-out with a new online system for payments and other issues associated with parking permits at the Princeton Junction train station.
According to Parking Authority Chairman Andy Lupo, the authority sent out a request for proposals and awarded a contract to Indianapolis-based T2 Systems, a parking technology solutions provider used by more than 300 organizations in the nation and Canada.
“We’re looking at January to give the customers the ability to handle their transactions online,” said Lupo. “That will help them also when we try to change the permit system.”
Right now, Lupo says, there are many cases in which a person will try to use the permit for multiple vehicles. In other cases, someone may take his or her permit, but take a spouse’s car, but forget the permit is only good for one use. Rather than the hang tag that is used now, the system will utilize a computer chip. “We can pick up the fact that you’re using the chip once, or if you’re using it twice, you would get an infraction and get a ticket,” he explained.
Users would also be able to make their quarterly payments online, have a permit re-activated, and perform other transactions, eliminating the need for constant mailings.
“We’re hopeful we can get this off and running for the start of the year,” Lupo said. “It changes how we do enforcement. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t like giving tickets. We don’t benefit from tickets. We just want to make sure people are parking legally and that people with a permit do have a place to park. That’s why we do have to go through this routine of checking daily.”
