The West Virginia University Department of Transportation and Parking is pleased to announce several new services that will be available beginning this spring semester.

The first is the installation of new pay parking meters in the short-term parking lots at the Mountainlair Garage and Short-term Parking Area 9 on Fine Arts Drive across from the Creative Arts Center. Parking rates will remain the same.

“The new meters are easy to use and intuitive,” said Assistant Director Eric Rosie. “They work in much the same way as a regular meter, but deliver improved benefits, such as a range of new payment options.”

In addition, the permit system will be different in these lots as a parking customer will only need to identify what parking space their car is in and pay for the time they need. For these two lots, there is no need to return to the car to display the permit on the dashboard as had been the procedure in the past. The meters will accept coins, bills and credit cards, and will issue receipts that have the date and time of purchase plus the space in which the vehicle is located.

The Short-term Parking Area 9 meters will have solar panels attached to them that will generate the electricity needed to operate the parking meter. This not only provides a sustainable use of a renewable energy source, but provided installation savings by avoiding the cost of running expensive electrical wiring to the site. The solar panels make the parking meters movable in the event the lot converts back to a permit lot.

An additional feature of the meters that will be convenient is the Extend-by-Phone service. This allows customers to receive parking expiration reminders and add time to their parking session using text (SMS) messages on their mobile phone. This feature is only available to those customers who use a credit card for their initial permit purchase.

The goal of the Transportation & Parking Office in installing the new parking meters is to provide the public with a greater range of options and increased convenience when paying for parking. In addition, the new meters will reduce the cost of maintenance and collection of revenue. It is envisioned that the remaining old pay and display parking meters used in the other short-term lots will be replaced with this new payment technology over the next three to four years.

New Short-term Lot – Beginning Jan. 14 a new short-term lot in the downtown campus will be available for students and visitors. Short-term Area 10, located at University Avenue and Falling Run Road, contains 67 parking spaces. The hourly cost is $1 and permits purchased at the pay stations on site must be displayed on the vehicle dash. Correct change is required as these pay stations do not provide change or take credit cards. Hours of enforcement are from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Mountaineer Station Value Cards – Students and visitors who use the Mountaineer Station Parking Garage at 1112 Van Voorhis Road no longer need to stand in line at the pay stations to pay for parking. They now can avoid the lines and go right to the gate with a Mountaineer Station Value Card. These value cards can be purchased at the Parking Management counter on the first floor of Mountaineer Station and come in value denominations of $10, $20, $50, and $100. With the Value Card, the user needs to insert the card in the gate when entering the garage to mark the entry time and then on the way out when the amount of time in the garage and the cost is determined. The gate will deduct the correct amount for the stay in the garage, then show the remaining balance on the gate display.

Please contact the Parking Office at 304-293-5502 with any questions.

-WVU-

pk/01/14/13

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