Commuters and campus residents alike often complain about the difficulty of finding convenient parking on campus. But Binghamton University’s Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) has been working to make life a little easier for those who use metered lots with the Whoosh! app.
Whoosh! helps make mobile parking payment an alternative to conventional coin- and bill-operated parking meters. A user inputs their license plate number and payment information, and is then able to pay for parking through their phone and keep track of the time remaining. If the meter is about to expire, Whoosh! will notify the user, who can add more time.
According to Susan Crane, the director of parking services, prime metered spots target visitors who need convenient and temporary parking, rather than students or faculty, who might need more long-term options like semester permits.
TAPS has recently been trying to promote the use of Whoosh! by running a raffle in which app users could win one of five $50 Visa gift cards. There are 1,104 active app users at BU, according to Crane, and TAPS seeks to increase that figure in the coming months.
“We are promoting Whoosh! to increase awareness,” Crane said. “TAPS is always looking for ways to increase the convenience of its services and Whoosh! provides a convenient way to park at metered spaces.”
TAPS first brought Whoosh! to campus in April 2015. According to Crane, Whoosh! is offering this service to the school free of charge. Paying for parking through the app is the same price as using the physical meter.
“[The Whoosh! app] benefits the end user and makes parking at a meter easy and convenient,” Crane said. “[Users] can pay for metered parking on campus from their phone, tablet or computer.”
TAPS makes parking on campus available through semester-long student and faculty permits, temporary visitor permits and pay-per-hour meters. Depending on the type of parking, individuals are allowed to park in either 24-hour resident lots, commuter lots or metered lots.
Metered or pay-station lots are available for use at the Administration Circle, in front of Mohawk Hall of College-in-the-Woods, next to Glenn G. Bartle Library and in other central locations around campus. These lots are considered prime by TAPS because of their proximity to the central locations like the University Union and Lecture Hall. Therefore, a meter system is used to control who parks there and for how long.
If the current campaign is successful, an increase in Whoosh! usage could increase revenue for TAPS; payments to meters account for approximately 10 percent of TAPS’ total annual budget. According to Crane, TAPS brought in $208,232.90 from metered parking in the 2016-17 academic year. Twenty-six percent of the revenue came from the Whoosh! app.
Grace Pellerin, a sophomore majoring in environmental studies, drives to and parks on campus regularly, and said she sees the app as an improvement to traditional metered parking.
“Parking is always hard on campus,” Pellerin said. “Metered lots are good if you just need to get in and out of campus quickly. The app is great for those situations where you just don’t have much time.”
The Whoosh! app is available for iPhone and Android, and is free to download.