MTSU Treasures T2 Tempo™ for Lauded Visitor Parking Experiences

Background

Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), a suburban campus located just outside of Nashville, has been serving its community since 1911. With a student population of 19,000 and about 2,000 employees, the university maintains a substantial infrastructure, including more than 12,700 parking spaces. This includes 74 surface lots, three faculty and staff gated lots, and three garages reserved for student use only. MTSU’s parking system is managed by its Parking Services team, and is primarily funded through student enrollment fees.

Challenge

The MTSU Parking Services team believes, “Parking is always one’s first and last campus experience,” and takes the saying to heart. Since visitors who park on MTSU’s campus are required to purchase a permit beforehand, the team was looking at ways to make the process more frictionless for them. “With the system we were using, visitors had to create an account or remember their password, input their information, generate a parking pass, then print the pass,” said Tracy Read, Director of MTSU Parking Services. “Visitors had to prepare for parking ahead of their visit since they weren’t able to access a printer from their mobile phones on site.”

The team was receiving numerous calls to assist visitors in this situation in addition to requests for system support, such as password resets. Always focused on building a better customer experience, they wanted to explore options for a more flexible solution that would better serve their parkers’ busy lifestyles and create a more valuable tool for frequent visitors. “We needed a mobile solution,” Tracy said.

At the same time, MTSU was grappling with underutilized parking spaces. Even during peak times in the fall of 2023, the university had over 2,000 vacant spaces across campus, including faculty-staff lots. With more than half of the students enrolled in online courses perpetuated by the pandemic, the university found itself needing to optimize parking spaces to enhance revenue.

Solution

The need for an improved visitor experience led MTSU Parking Services team to explore T2 Tempo™, our time-based mobile parking management solution. After learning about its availability at T2 Connect, the team was eager to volunteer themselves as beta testers while our solution was being developed.

Implementation was straightforward due to MTSU’s simple parking structure, which offers visitor parking as a “hunting license” — allowing visitors to park in any non-restricted lot. According to Tracy, “The setup was very simple, and it allowed us to configure the backend system exactly the way we wanted.”

The solution offers a user-friendly interface, allowing visitors to purchase parking permits via their mobile devices and eliminates the need for printed passes. Its access from a promotable QR code also allows visitors to notice they need to purchase a permit for parking. “That’s a really helpful thing,” Tracy said. “We want our visitors to get a permit; we want them to follow the rules. What we don’t want to do is write a citation.”

T2 Tempo™ proved to be a perfect fit for the Parking Services team to manage their visitor and event parking.

Results

Since adopting our solution, MTSU has experienced significant improvements in visitor parking management and parker experience. The system’s ease of use has led to positive feedback from both visitors and staff. QR codes placed on check-in tables allowed parents to easily access parking permits, streamlining the process and reducing confusion.

University administration has also noted the success of T2 Tempo™, with interest in expanding its use to other areas of campus parking, potentially including non-gated staff lots. Since the university has found T2 Tempo™ to be very configurable, they are confident in their ability to easily set up additional student, faculty, and staff facilities as more people return to campus in the near future. Tracy echoed this sentiment, saying, “Tempo is so easy to set up that we’re ready to expand it as our needs grow.”

The implementation of Tempo™ has transformed parking management at MTSU, offering a more user-friendly and efficient solution that meets the needs of its dynamic campus environment. “I can say that Tempo has been a major contributing factor and enhancement to MTSU’s great ‘first and last’ customer experience, too,” Tracy said. The university is now better equipped to handle visitor parking demands, enhancing the overall experience for visitors, students, and staff alike.

About T2 Systems 

T2 is the largest provider of parking and mobility solutions in North America. With over 27 years in business, T2 now serves more than 2,000 customers and maintains the largest Customer Community with over 7,500 active members. T2 helps universities, municipalities, operators, healthcare campuses, and transportation hubs generate revenue and operate efficiently with a comprehensive, integrated suite of solutions featuring touchless and contactless capabilities. From curbside management to gateless, from mobile payments to transportation demand management, T2 strives to make every trip a smooth journey by streamlining the parking, mobility, and transportation experience with technology solutions that help organizations manage resources, achieve goals, and empower consumers with choices.