Who expected to add parking permits to the list of virtual things?

Starting in August, the University of Connecticut and its Parking and Transportation Services will introduce license plate recognition (LPR) enforcement.

The upgraded management and enforcement system will use car-mounted cameras to read and match a vehicle’s license plate to its University permit record and determine if its parking is authorized.

This does not apply to UConn Health, which will continue to use hang tags.

This process is referred to as “virtual permitting” because it eliminates the need to issue physical decals or hang tag permits. Faculty and staff who own multiple vehicles will no longer have to worry about forgetting to move their hang tag between them. Students won’t have to worry about forgetting to install their decals or scraping them off before changing or refunding their permits. Parking permits of employees who pay for their virtual permits using payroll deductions won’t expire annually and will continue to be valid across permit years. For the time being, those who choose to park within gated locations will still need to use key cards or transponder decals to enter them.

Employee parking permits for the 2021-22 academic year will be available for purchase starting on Monday, July 19 at 9 a.m., on the Parking Services homepage while student permits will first be available two weeks later on Monday, August 2 at 9 a.m.

The introduction of LPR will require parking permit applicants to confirm that any prepopulated license plate numbers are correct and to enter any new vehicle information accurately in the application process. Parking and Transportation Services, therefore, strongly encourages applicants to take a picture of their license plate(s) before completing the online permit application this year, which they can then reference to double-check their information.