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New parking fee system using MIT Card starts Feb. 1

If you are an employee or commuting student who parks regularly or occasionally at an MIT lot, you need to get an MIT photo ID card and a new parking sticker for the seven-month period beginning Thursday, Feb. 1, through Aug. 31. MIT cards are available at the MIT Card Office, Rm E32-200.

Each department has a parking coordinator, who has received briefing materials on the new system and who must approve all applications for regular, daily or other parking privileges.

The new parking fees may be paid via payroll deduction from February through August or paid in advance by check. The fees are:

  • A regular commuter permit costs $150 for the seven-month period (or $75 for those willing to park at the remote lot on Pacific Street).
  • Extra stickers for additional vehicles on the same permit cost $25 each.
  • Car pools and van pools split the cost of a regular sticker and there is no additional charge for stickers for each car pool member.
  • For occasional parkers, a parking sticker costs $25, and then you can park for $2 a day (to be deducted from your paycheck) for up to 8 days a month. Daily permits will be assigned to the Albany garage, the West garage, and an East Campus lot to be determined.
  • For second- and third-shift employees, who park at off-peak hours, the cost is $52.50 for a regular commuter permit.
  • For commuting students, a permit (only for the Vassar Street lot) costs $75, which can be billed through the bursar's office.
  • ������������������For emeritus professors and Institute Professors, permits cost $50.
  • For invited visitors to MIT, departments may get daily permits-which must be charged to an MIT account-from the Parking and Transportation Office, Rm 16-539, x8-6510, at a cost of $2.50 apiece. The contact is Tim Campbell of Standard Parking, assistant director of parking and transportation for MIT.

All valid MIT parking permits will be honored after 5 pm and before 7am at most MIT parking facilities except for the Main Lot. Spouses or spouse equivalents of MIT employees who commute with the employee may apply for an MIT card when needed for parking access.

John McDonald, Standard Parking's new director of parking and transportation at MIT, said that the new parking permits will go into effect Feb. 1. However, those who return to MIT after that date will have a brief grace period to get their new sticker.

Mr. McDonald said that there would be minimal changes in the existing operation during February. He said all the lot attendants are staying on as new employees of Standard Parking. In late February, a card reader, like the one used at the Albany garage, is due to be installed at the West garage. This will be the fast pass-through or "swipe" reader, in which the driver holds the card and passes it through the reader.

Next September, the cost of a parking permit for a full 12-month period will be $300, as announced in Tech Talk last May. The new parking rates for MIT are lower than Harvard, which has charged for parking for more than 15 years and currently charges $330 a year. At Boston University, a parking permit costs $600 a year.

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