Camping on the sidewalk and obsessively calling SunDial to purchase or renew an ASU parking decal may soon be a thing of the past.
Parking and Transit Services plans to sell parking decals online for the first time in March.
Despite having the largest student body in Arizona, ASU is the last of the three major state universities to put its parking decal sales online.
"It's about trying to get more information to the customer," said Linda Riegel, director of PTS.
Online sales were not possible previously because the department has been using a 20-year-old mainframe computer system.
The new system will allow students, faculty and staff to purchase and renew decals, update their license plate information, view their entire ticket history and submit appeals.
The department will also be able to inform commuters about construction on campus.
Last semester, wait-times to buy a decal ranged from 45 minutes to an hour at peak demand during the first weeks of classes. The department hopes the ability to sell decals online will reduce the amount of time students spend waiting in line.
It is not known to what extent the online sales will reduce the time spent waiting to pick up a parking pass, Riegel said.
ASU has sent decals through the mail to customers for the past five years and offered extended sales hours during the first week of school.
"I think it's pretty sad," said Tony Dolan, a finance junior, about ASU becoming the last state university to post the information online. "I'm actually pretty disappointed by that because it's difficult to get a structure pass."
Dolan and a friend camped in line last fall to purchase a parking decal, only to learn that Dolan would not be able to buy one because he had not yet registered for classes.
Even with the new online sales system, there is more ASU could do to improve its customer service, Dolan said.
"In all fairness I think they need to expire [student] structure passes each year so that students have equal access," he said. "I think the main concern is having parking close enough."
UA has seen a reduction in overall wait-times at its decal sales office in the past few years after making decals available for purchase online, said Andie Graessle, customer relations manager for Parking & Transportation Services at UA.
Wait-times went from two hours a few years ago to 20 minutes this year, Graessle said.
"Students have a lot of things they need to deal with, and parking should not be an issue," she said.
Reach the reporter at elias.arnold@asu.edu.
