Paperless Permits Start at the Croton Train Station Lot in June

Starting on June 1, parking permits on vehicles parked in all sections of the Village’s train station parking lot except Section F (the daily lot), will be verified using a new License Plate Recognition (LPR) system.

Studies of the station parking lot have been performed by the firm of Tim Haas Associates. They recently performed an updated demand study which indicated a significant increase in future demand for spaces. In the last year the station parking lot has experienced an upsurge in demand with a waiting list for quarterly Non-resident and Preferred permits of well over 300 names. (Residents are not wait-listed.) Additionally, the demand for daily parking has been dramatic over the last 2 years. As the train station parking lot is the single biggest source of revenue next to property taxes, making its management as efficient as possible is important to its overall operation as well as to its customers.

For those with parking permits - Resident, Non-resident and Preferred, the Village will no longer issue a permit sticker to be placed in the vehicle window. Instead, each vehicle’s license plate will be scanned in the parking lot and matched against a data base of valid permits. A correct match ensures that the car’s permit has been paid and that it is parked in the correct section of the lot. 

The new vehicle license plate recognition system is a two-part system: 1) enforcing valid permits thru scanning license plates in the parking lot and, 2) selling permits associated with license plate numbers. Several times during the day, a parking enforcement car equipped with a LPR camera will circulate through the parking lot scanning the license plates. Vehicles whose license plates do not match a valid permit in the computerized permit data base, or are parked in the wrong section, will be ticketed. The LPR system will speed up the enforcement process on a daily basis and require fewer staff to perform it. 

Currently much of the permit checking occurs on foot by the parking officers. This portion of the system is provided by Secure Watch LLC in partnership with Genetech. They are providing the cameras, car computer, and software necessary for the parking enforcement part of the LPR system. The related part of the new parking system, the online parking management software and database segment, is under contract to Parcmobile USA.

All users of the parking lot, who get permits, will be required to set up an online account which includes their email address, their car(s), and license plate numbers. All permits will be sold on a quarterly basis beginning with the June/July/August quarter of this year. Emails will be sent to current permit holders to remind them to purchase their next quarterly permit. Payments may be made online by credit card at that time, or customers may also set up an automatic credit card charge for the permit. Checks may also be sent or brought into the Village Office. Debiting of checking accounts is not supported. 

This month, all current permit users, except those with Weekend permits, will receive a letter with details of how to sign up for the new LPR system. Resident Weekend permits are not affected at this time.