Campus, News

Two parking apps for CSULB under development

The daily struggle of campus parking has been noted by Associated Students, Inc. and the Department of Parking and Transportation Services, and the two are working on creating two parking apps for Cal State Long Beach.

CSULB’s Executive Director of News and Digital Media Michael Uhlenkamp said the two apps are being developed separately, one by parking services and the other by an outside developer.

The first in-house app will be for tracking open parking spots in the parking structures on campus. Since parking services is a self-sustained department and therefore does not receive any kind of state funding, Uhlenkamp said the cost of developing the app will come from revenue obtained by citations and parking permits.

A beta version is scheduled to be released by early January.

The second app will be a mobile app for purchasing parking permits, checking expiration time and other parking-related actions. A beta version for the app is also scheduled for release early next year, but the plan, according to parking services, is for the final version to be released next fall.

The cost for developing the app is still unknown, according to Uhlenkamp, but both apps will be made available to students for free.

“Our parking program has many complexities, so [developers] are having a hard time finding a reasonable solution [to make the apps simple and efficient],” Uhlenkamp said.

Uhlenkamp said parking is too complicated to be part of the current CSULB app, which provides traffic updates and shuttle and public transportation arrival times, so creating two separate apps is necessary for students, faculty, staff and visitors.

During the previous academic year, ASI members discussed the idea of a parking app during the monthly Parking and Transportation Committee meeting, drawing on similar apps available at Cal State Northridge and Fresno State.

“We’re trying to alleviate some [parking] challenges, so we’re doing the best with the resources available,” Uhlenkamp said. “We’re almost at capacity, so we’re also trying to decrease our carbon footprint.”

Uhlenkamp referred to the electric car charging stations and the upcoming construction of solar panels for parking structures as ways to decrease that carbon footprint. The solar panels will be constrained to Parking Lots 7 and 14 and are expected to be operational by late 2017.

Junior social work major Roxanne Sanchez says a parking app is needed.

“[The apps] will definitely make parking easier and more efficient,” Sanchez said. “It’d be a great service for students to use.”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

Daily 49er newsletter

Instagram