UNMC Parking Services is moving away from parking stickers for permits to a new digital recognition system for med center parking.
With the new technology, which will be activated for use starting the week of Oct. 20, a vehicle’s license plate becomes the parking permit, said Timothy Faisetty, UNMC’s manager for parking/transportation services. UNMC Parking Services vehicles have the new digital plate readers attached to their roofs, he said, and will be patrolling parking lots to check for compliance.
The system will be in place for the UNMC Omaha campus and Munroe-Meyer Institute.
In the transition, UNMC staff and students and Nebraska Medicine colleagues are urged to go into the parking services web portal to update their vehicle information — including make, model and color — and license plate information. Parking registrants are allowed to have up to three vehicles in the system, but only one can be parked on campus at a time.
Parking registrants must update their information by Monday, Oct. 20. The parking portal is UNMC Parking Services.
UNMC’s move to license plate recognition technology aligns with the vendor that the University of Nebraska at Omaha has adopted, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has implemented a similar model.
“This new license plate recognition technology has become the standard for the University of Nebraska, and this upgrade will improve our parking management here at the med center, too,” Faisetty said. “Thank you for your cooperation as we make this transition smooth and the system more efficient for everyone.”
With the new system, license plates must be within view, unobstructed and legible. To avoid a ticket, people must park so their license plate is visible and facing the drive aisle.
Parking officers will drive through parking lots with the reader activated, and the system will recognize if a vehicle does not have a permit for an area, Faisetty said. Anyone in violation still will receive a paper ticket, he said, and that information is logged.
Any other data is not logged in the system, which is a stand-alone system independent to parking services and not connected to other motor vehicle, public safety or patient information systems, said Victoria Zajac, UNMC’s director of auxiliary services for finance and business services.
Zajac said the system is intended to strengthen parking compliance and improve the overall parking experience.
“Our goal is to ensure fairness and accessibility — particularly for patients and employees who have the appropriate permits,” she said. “We recognize that some individuals have expressed concerns about being identified by parking stickers, and this system helps reduce that visibility while maintaining necessary oversight.”
First-time registrants in the system still can expect to visit UNMC Parking Services to get set up for parking. But for all other existing customers, they will be able to handle all their parking needs online.