Parking updates: gate-arm technology rolling out, town halls planned

UPDATE (Feb. 2): Testing of the gate-arm technology continues at the Danforth University Center, Snow Way, Millbrook and West Campus garages. Until the system is fully functional, the team will provide on-site support. Thank you for your patience. 


New gate-arm technology installed at the Danforth University Center (DUC) garage at Washington University in St. Louis will be in operation starting Monday, Jan. 22, followed by the Millbrook and Snow Way garages on Tuesday, Jan. 23, and the West Campus garage on Wednesday, Jan. 24, Parking & Transportation Services announced.

Learn more

The Parking and Transportation team will provide a parking update during town hall sessions held at various locations, including:

• Danforth Campus: Noon-1 p.m. today (Jan. 18), Lab Sciences Building, Room 300
• West Campus: Noon-1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, library
• North Campus: 10-11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 9, café

Note: The Danforth Campus session also will be livestreamed
on the parking website, and a recording will be posted later.

Unlike the old equipment that required parkers to swipe a university ID as well as display a university parking permit, the new system will be able to read the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology embedded in the parking permits to automatically activate the gate arms.

The majority of permit holders will not need to do anything differently when parking in these garages. For example, annual permit holders with garage access will be able to enter and exit as usual and permits must be properly displayed while parked. These individuals will pull up to the gates and the RFID-enabled parking permit hangtags will trigger the gate arms to open automatically at both the entrance and exit.

A small number of permit holders, however, who drive vehicles equipped with windshields that cannot be penetrated by RFID will need to hold the permit out the window to both access and exit the garage or will need to mount their permit in a specific area. Visit the parking website to review this list of vehicles.

Visitor parking 

Garage parking for nonpermit holders

Zone 2 (Danforth underground garage):
• Visitor parking is available on the first level or the ramp down to the second level.
• Pulled tickets must be displayed on vehicle dashboard.
• Payment is made upon exiting via either the pay station lane or the attendant lane (cash or credit card).

Zone 3 (Millbrook and Snow Way garages)
• Visitor parking is available on fourth level on the south side of Millbrook and on the fourth level (roof) of Snow Way in designated visitor spaces.
• Visitors should take pulled tickets with them.
• Upon returning to the garage, visitors to Millbrook garage should pay at the pay station located at the east, west or central pedestrian entrances/exits of the fourth level on the south side (visitor level) before returning to their vehicles; in Snow Way garage, visitors should pay at the pay station located near the elevator core on the north wall of the roof.
• The pay stations accept cash or credit card payments.
• At the exit, visitors will need to insert their paid parking ticket in the exit station to activate the gate arms to open.

Zone 5 (West Campus garage)
• Visitor parking is available on the first level of the West Campus garage.
• Visitors must display the pulled parking ticket on their vehicle’s dashboard.
• Visitors pay upon exiting the garage via the pay station lane, which only accepts credit cards.

All gates will be fully operational starting Friday, Jan. 26. At that time, daily permits no longer will be available for purchase and no longer will be valid.

Starting Monday, Jan. 22, all visitors who park in the DUC, Snow Way, Millbrook or West Campus garages will need to pull a parking ticket to gain entry, park in designated visitor spaces, and pay prior to exiting (see sidebar for details).

While there is no cost to park in any yellow or visitor spaces within the garages after 5 p.m., visitors still must pull a ticket to gain access. This will allow Parking and Transportation to better track and manage after-hours usage.

In addition, Passport Parking, the app that allows individuals to pay for parking by the hour, is available in designated visitor spaces on the fourth floor of the Wallace Garage and along the west and south sides of the main building at North Campus. The app can be downloaded for free via iTunes and Google Play. To learn more, watch this video.

Validations (department use)

As daily visitor permits no longer will be valid effective Friday, Jan. 26, daily permits purchased after July 1, 2017, can be exchanged for department validations at no cost in the Parking and Transportation office at North Campus through Feb. 28.

Starting Monday, Jan. 22, those using validations will need to pull a ticket to enter the garages and park in designated visitor spaces. Departmental charges will be incurred only when the validation is used and only for the amount of time the guest is parked. Through Friday, Jan. 26, departments can direct guests to visitor parking at no cost. Enforcement of visitor spaces will be relaxed to accommodate the transition from daily permits to validations.

To request a validation, departments must fill out the Request Event Parking form on the parking website.

Official business permit-holders

Employees who use official business permits will need to pull a ticket to gain access to the garages but may park in any unreserved parking space for up to three hours. While parked, these permits must be displayed with the employee’s individual annual yellow or ParkSmart parking permit.

Upon exiting, employees will need to insert the entrance ticket in the exit station and scan the QR code located on the back of the official business permit using the barcode reader on the exit station. If an employee is parked longer than three hours, he or she is responsible for the additional cost incurred.

Occasional Parking Program

Between Jan. 26 and Feb. 28, current members of the Occasional Parking Program will need to bring their current FY18 membership card and ID to be exchanged for new RFID-enabled permits at the Parking and Transportation office located at North Campus. As daily permits will no longer be valid as of Jan. 26, OPP participants can bring these to the office for disposal.

The new RFID hangtags will be loaded with an amount equal to the number of times that participants are eligible to park during the semester and will allow access to garages within the permit holders’ assigned zones.

Eliot Society visitor access permits

Eliot Society members who were issued Eliot Society visitor access permits, formerly known as “occasional use” permits, will continue to be able to access to the DUC, Snow Way, Millbrook and West Campus garages but must park in designated visitor spaces. The new permits will be distributed by Alumni & Development.

Parking and Transportation team members will be providing additional support within the garages the week of Jan. 22 to ensure as smooth a transition to the new technology as possible. In addition, all gates and pay stations are equipped with intercoms for immediate assistance.

“I want to thank everyone for your patience during the installation of the new equipment,” said Dedric Carter, vice chancellor for operations and technology transfer. “The new system will not only provide a higher-quality service to those parking on campus but will also provide our team, under the leadership of Director Gwen Bolden, with better data that they can use to continue to improve parking services and resources.”

“Lastly, I want to encourage those who park on campus to attend one of our upcoming town hall sessions,” he said. “We will be highlighting recent parking updates and also carving out plenty of time for Q&A.”

The Parking and Transportation team will continue to post important updates and alerts to the parking website, distribute email communications when relevant, and regularly publish updates in The Record. As a reminder, all parking-related articles are included in the news and videos section of the website.

For more information, visit parking.wustl.edu.