“A good move”: inside Colorado School of Mines meter upgrade
How Orikan helped the engineering university transform its parking technology.
Engineering university, Colorado School of Mines, is home to a vibrant community of about 8,000 students and 1,500 staff.
As you can imagine, with a campus that busy, parking is in high demand – and its 4,000-odd parking bays often hit full capacity during peak times.
Marc Parenteau, the university’s Parking and Fleet Operations Manager, runs a well-managed paid parking system to service his staff and student body.
But after experiencing some limitations with previous parking technology, Marc says his team decided to transform its parking infrastructure.
Top of mind was reliable paid parking technology that would allow the university to issue validation codes (or permits), as well as integrate with Chase, the university’s bank.
“We were really looking for a product that would meet that need for us. Michael and his crew at Orikan came through with a solution,” Marc explains.
Colorado School of Mines decided to engage Orikan to boost its parking infrastructure with a suite of 16 new digital parking meters in 2024.
Orikan’s touch-screen meters offer various capabilities to suit the university’s needs including both insert and contactless credit card payments, QR code for payment and some meters that accept bills.
Marc tells us the meters have been well received by faculty staff, students, and even the installation team.
“The meter user interface is very superior. We’ve had nothing but compliments from our users on the ease of making payments and using the validation codes as well. Even the team that installed the meters were surprised at how easy they were to install.”
Colorado can experience very cold winters, so the university had some initial questions about how the weather may impact meter usability.
“One of our initial concerns was how the touch screens would perform in the cold weather, while users are wearing gloves. Plus, almost all the meters run on solar power. But we’ve already gone through one very long and cold winter, and I heard no complaints from users,” Marc tells us.
Marc also says that the ability to pay for parking via QR code has proven very popular on campus.
“Initially QR code payments made up just 10% of our transactions. Since we’ve installed these new meters, 50% of all parking payments are now made through the QR code.”
Marc says he’s been very happy with the move to Orikan parking technology for the university:
“It was a good move on our part. As far as vendors I deal with go, Orikan are probably number one as far as ease, responsiveness, and the lack of times I need to contact them. I’ve been very happy with the relationship.”
To learn more about how Orikan can help your organisation with your parking infrastructure, contact our team.
