Renovations of the parking system in the Memorial Union Parking Garage has been completed, making the process a little quicker – if not a little more impersonal.

After nearly a full year of planning and work, the new parking system outside the MU has been finished and is currently up and running. Gail Ferlazzo, associate director of the Memorial Union, said there were many reasons for the change.

“Our three main goals for the new system is to speed up the flow of traffic exiting the ramp, keep a tighter look on our audit trail, and use the information provided by the computers about the parking ramp traffic patterns to meet further needs of the patrons,” Ferlazzo said.

The new system is similar to parking systems found in airports, urban parking garages, and other high-traffic locations. The system allows patrons to pay their parking entry tickets by way of automated pay stations before returning to their vehicle. The stations is accept cash, coins and credit cards.

Not all students are completely on board with the change. There has been some confusion over the new payment process, and some congestion throughout the garage has been observed over the last few days.

Some students, such as Trevor Ray, junior in pre-journalism and mass communication, said they prefer the old way because it’s what they’ve grown used to.

“I can see why they decided to change the system, but I would still choose the old system over the new one because I never saw any problems with it,” Ray said.

However, with a little patience and understanding, the new system will likely prove to be more efficient.

“The transition to the new system has been going better than expected,” said Ferlazzo, who has spent the last few days greeting patrons exiting the ramp and assisting patrons with questions.

There are five different locations where patrons can pay for parking. There are two pay stations near the elevators on Level 1. Inside the MU, there are two pay stations: one near the Level 1 east entrance and one on Level 2 near the hotel desk. There is one last automated pay station in front of the exit gate that only accepts credit cards. An intercom there allows patrons to ask for assistance.

Eleven new security cameras have been added in conjunction with the new parking system. The cameras, which provide more views from inside the garage and outside the ramps, will add additional security and help officials deal with minor incidents.

The new system has also had some effect on previous student or staff jobs. Ferlazzo said some positions had hours taken away, but no jobs were actually removed.

“Student and staff jobs weren’t lost during the change. Instead, the new system has changed the roles of the student or staff jobs,” Ferlazzo said.