From residential and staff parking to on-street and curbside spaces, parking permits play a large role in managing traffic and ensuring compliance in any parking facility. Issuing and managing permits can require a lot of administrative and enforcement oversight to ensure both security and compliance among parkers. Whether you’re managing a large volume of permits within a facility like a residential building, or updating permit details on an ongoing basis, parking software can both simplify and automate the entire process by bringing everything to the cloud. It’s not only cost-effective but it increases adaptability and efficiency for operators with digital permits and better access control, resulting in more strategic decision-making.
But first, what is a digital permit?
Digital permits are distributed electronically by collecting relevant information from an associated license plate. When visitors, residents and employees apply for a permit, parking operators are able to customize the permit based on duration, location and frequency – all through a centralized platform. Permit holders are then able to enter a given lot without having to display any hang tags or access cards since their license plate holds all the information required by the parking operator and/or enforcement officer.
What are the benefits of digital permit management?
1. It improves efficiency and grants better access control
Digital permits are hassle-free and simplify the entire permit process for both parkers and parking operators. Using a license plate recognition (LPR) camera, a cloud-based permit management system allows parking operators to easily identify authorized and unauthorized visitors in real-time, all by simply scanning a license plate. From there, parkers will either be granted or denied access in a matter of seconds.
2. You can make permit updates and changes with no delay
When visitors, residents and employees apply for a permit, operators are able to customize the permit based on duration, location and frequency – all through a centralized platform. If a parking facility has a large number of permit types such as recurring and non-recurring parkers, operators could find themselves making changes to permits on a weekly basis. With a cloud-based parking platform like Roker, operators can be responsive and make those changes with no delay. They can also easily oversee waitlists, approvals and renewals all in one place.
3. It collects valuable information for strategic decision-making
Managing permits with parking technology gives operators access to valuable data in real-time. With this data, they can better understand how their parking resources are being used, what types of permit holders are in their facility and how long those parkers are there. For example, if a hospital notices an increase in permit requests for staff members, they can optimize their parking resources by allocating more staff parking closer or further from the building.
4. There’s minimal investment and it’s eco-friendly
Going the digital route eliminates the need for printed hang tags and stickers, since access is granted and/or verified through a simple license plate scan. This not only saves time and money, but it also minimizes the chances of physical permits being lost and having to be re-issued. Not to mention, it’s also environmentally-friendly by reducing the amount of printed permits being distributed and piles of paperwork over time.
5. It enhances security and provides greater oversight
Whether it be an employee, visitor or resident, it’s essential for parking operators to understand the who and why when it comes to their parking resources. Being able to identify authorized vehicles in real-time, parking operators have a direct hand in enhancing the security of their parking facility when using a digital permit system. It also ensures that vehicles are permitted to park, have paid for a permit and are there for a valid reason.
At Roker, our parking platform includes a permit management feature that is designed to instantly identify authorized permit holders and deny access to unauthorized vehicles in any given lot. Through our Web app, we help parking operators simplify the process and gain better access control to improve both security and parking compliance. To learn more about our cloud-based parking platform, contact us here.
