During the next few weeks, the Parking Office will be replacing all the card readers at lots and garages equipped with parking gates, as part of a new management software system. The project will not affect any of the pedestrian-door card readers on campus.
The new, more user-friendly card readers will have a two-line LCD display that will give a text message after every card swipe, indicating whether the card swipe was valid or invalid. The display can also show the occasional parking account balances and notify of upcoming events or construction projects in the area.
The schedule for the new card reader installation calls for having all existing card readers replaced by the end of July. A parking attendant will be present at each facility while its card reader is being replaced. An attendant will also be present for the first few days to help people with the new card readers.
The first locations to change over will be the 158 Massachusetts Ave. lot at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Albany Street. The new card readers and gates will begin operating today (July 14). The next location will be the N10 annex lot on Albany Street, where the parking gates and card readers will be installed this week and should be back in service by this Friday (July 16).
Anyone with questions about the new system or any other parking-related matters may contact John McDonald at x3-9897 or jmcd@mit.edu.
A version of this article appeared in the July 14, 1999 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 44, Number 1).
