New parking scheme at the University of Sunderland

The University made this decision primarily to ease car parking congestion. The parking spaces were reduced due to campus redevelopment and staff re-locations and the car parks were often full. This meant that staff and students, who had in the past paid for their annual parking up front, regularly could not find a space.

It was intended that, by introducing a pay and display system, it would offer a fairer way of paying for parking (which means you only pay the days you park). It would also encourage people to choose an alternative method of transport to the university where possible, so freeing up parking space for those who have no realistic alternative but to drive to and park at the university.

The university chose a system where permit holders, such as staff and students, qualify for a specially discounted tariff of 20p per hour up to a maximum daily rate of 1 by pressing a special button and then displaying their ticket together with a valid permit in the car windscreen. Other occasional visitors to the University pay the standard tariff of 50p per hour, whilst the general public are not allowed to park on University grounds.

The attendant can easily read the ticket to see that is has been purchased at the lower rate, and to then check that a qualifying permit is also visible.

The terminals can easily be upgraded at a later date to accept card reader solutions, should the University decide to offer cashless parking.

All of the parking terminals at the University of Sunderland are connected to the Cale Web Office service, a web based back-office application designed to monitor, programme and provide statistical information on Cale parking terminals.