Since I’ve been attending BYU, they have issued decals to be able to park in various lots. There are Y lots (Undergraduate Students), A lots (Faculty/Staff), G lots (Graduate Students), and C lots (on-campus housing). The members of University Police that enforce these lots have been much like the post office – they are out there rain, snow, or shine.

There are also two gates that lead to on-campus driveways – roads that are only accessible to full-time staff. Cars would have to get a little RFID that would open the gate when the antenna came in range of the gate.

Recently, BYU has decided to switch over to a system that uses license plate recognition in lieu of parking stickers or gate openers. It’s a pretty novel concept – instead of issuing stickers or passes, students and faculty merely register their license plates online. Parking lots are now enforced by a car that drives around with a camera on it’s roof that reads license plates to verify parking entitlement. Additionally, cameras were installed by the gates that lead on to campus so that when a car pulls up to the gate, it reads the plate and opens it.

Awesome – no more stickers, no more passes, and no more officers having to be out in the cold during the dead of winter…now only if it worked.

Unfortunately, of the 5 times I’ve had to use the gates on campus – it’s worked for me once. After being instructed to contact parking services – I was told that the system “has issues” and that they’re “working on it.”

Luckily for me I only have to use the gate a couple times a week – I can’t imagine the annoyance daily users must encounter. Perhaps they need to upgrade their new system, because systems are available that “can scan number plates at around one per second on cars traveling up to 100 mph.”

Perhaps BYU employees just need to slow down.