University of Connecticut Parking Services has started implementing PayLock’s SmartBoot technology to enforce parking tickets, according to Associate Director of Logistics Andy Kelly.
SmartBoots, which first appeared on campus on July 31, will be put on vehicles that have accumulated more than $200 in parking fines, Kelly said.
According to PayLock’s website, SmartBoots are the “parking market’s first and most successful electro-mechanical boot” that can immobilize vehicles in less than 10 seconds. The boot, which weighs 15 pounds, “is durable, portable and proven in the harshest urban environments in the nation.”.
Each UConn parking enforcement vehicle will carry three or four boots, Kelly said. When enforcement officers scan the license plate of a car with more than $200 in parking fines, they will call the Parking Services office at the Facilities Operations Building to confirm the car should be booted. Boots will only be put on cars after confirmation from the office, Kelly said.
“When the person comes back to their car, there’s a very, very large sticker on the driver’s side… with instructions on how to get the boot removed,” said Kelly.
Kelly said there will be a QR code to pay an outstanding balance via PayLock’s website or a phone number to pay over the phone.
Once the balance is paid, students will get a code to unlock the boot themselves via the keypad on the boot. The boot must then be brought to a drop box located in Lot F in front of the Facilities Operations building within 48 hours, Kelly said. If the boots are not returned by then, fines will start to accrue again. Thousands of UConn community members have accumulated more than $200 in parking fines, Kelly said. He said that many students don’t realize that parking fines will follow them past their time at UConn.
“You’re not supposed to be able to graduate without paying [your fines],” Kelly said. “If you’re not a UConn student, [the fines] eventually get turned over to collections. If you don’t graduate, it gets turned over to collections. So, there’s really not a clean way out for folks who might think there is.”
Since implementing SmartBoots this past summer, Parking Services has already collected “tens of thousands of dollars” in outstanding balances, Kelly said.
The money accrued from the boots goes back into the university, Kelly said. Section 10a-139 of the Connecticut General Statutes says that the money can only be used to enforce parking regulations. Kelly said the cost of maintaining parking facilities is relatively low. The remaining money goes towards UConn’s scholarship funds.
Since switching to license plate readers and virtual parking permits in 2021, UConn had no way to efficiently enforce parking fines, Kelly said. Parking Services wanted to avoid relying on tow trucks, since they can be expensive and inconvenient for everyone involved. SmartBoots will make fine enforcement easier, he said. He hopes that use of the boots goes down over time, but he is unsure how long that will take.
“In theory, over time, you need [SmartBoots] less and less,” he explained. “In a university setting, where there’s… a very substantial turnover of vehicles being used on campus on an annual basis… it’s kind of yet to be seen whether our use goes down over time.”
Parking Services currently has 14 SmartBoots. If the need for the boots does not decrease over time, Kelly said, the University might consider getting more. However, their bigger concern is the drop boxes.
“We’re a lot closer to adding a second drop box than we are to adding more boots,” Kelly said. “The drop box only holds about five [boots]. So, if we’re going into a weekend and we have eight boots out, if every one of those people decide to pay their fines, take it off [and] return it, we might be in trouble.”
The SmartBoots will be helpful to those with parking permits on campus, Kelly said.
“Our job in Parking Services is to make sure that people can park where they pay to park. And so, this is another tool in our bag to limit the number of folks precluding the people going by the rules from parking where they’re supposed to park,” Kelly said. “It’s anything we can do to encourage [that people] work within the policy.”