By Emma King, Staff Writer
Starting this semester, Baylor Parking Services moved from print tickets to an email-delivery system for parking citations. Despite being a month in, the system is still a work in progress.
Matt Penney, Baylor’s director of parking and transportation services, said the parking services’ new system is still in its beginning stages. He said the software helps manage the issuing of permits and citations and appeals for citations.
“The emailing portion isn’t that much different,” Penney said. “We used to walk around and print something out and put it on the windshield. We saw advantages to emailing it to our clientele.”
Penney said not only does this new system save paper, but it allows for more communication between the department and the individuals that receive parking tickets.
Waco sophomore Annie Mathis disagrees, however.
“It’s the worst,” Mathis said. “I didn’t know I was getting tickets.”
Mathis said she checks her email daily, but that she did not receive notification of her tickets until about three weeks after she received her first one.
The emails tell the recipient what time of day it was and where the car was when the citation was received.
“The new email parking notices include the generic information that used to be included in the notice, but also includes colored pictures, GPS coordinates and links to the Baylor parking website,” Penney said.
Mathis said her emails did include a picture of her car and the time and date of the citation, but the first citation was dated for Sept. 2 and she received the email on Sept. 21.
“I got four separate emails for [tickets] within a minute,” Mathis said.
She said she did not have a parking pass, but she wasn’t sure how to purchase one or if the lot she was parked in was only for students. Each of her four tickets will cost Mathis $35.
“I would have gotten a pass sooner if I had realized I had gotten tickets,” Mathis said. “I just think it’s not fair because they aren’t notifying you of your citation.”
Penney and parking services declined to comment on the transition and how it has affected standard operating procedures.
The appeal process remains the same, however. If the citation is not appealed in 14 days, the charge for the citation will be applied to the student’s bill, according to the Baylor Department of Public Safety’s website.
Cars that are unregistered with the university will receive stickers on their vehicle, informing students that they need to register their car, that they have received a citation and that they should come to the parking services office.
“Citations are always directly related to the number of infractions, or the number of non-compliant parkers on campus,” Penney said.
He said he does not think the number of citations given has increased with the use of the new software.
“We like this particular software because we believe, in the future, it’s going to provide more flexibility in the type of permits we can create,” Penney said.
