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Parking staff launches new e‑commerce permit system for downtown monthly permits
Summary
City parking staff began a phased rollout of a Skidata-based e‑commerce permit and account system for downtown monthly and residential permits; staff reported approximately 726 of ~975 permittees enrolled and described operational benefits and remaining transition tasks.
City parking staff updated the Santa Barbara City Parking Committee on Oct. 1 about a new e‑commerce permit system to manage downtown monthly commuter and residential permits.
Staff described a web‑based permit portal built on the Skidata platform and said the system is designed to replace a largely manual, check‑and‑paper process used for roughly 975 monthly permit accounts. “We have an admin portal, but basically, most all of the changes are made by the customer and then automatically affect their access to the lot,” staff said, summarizing the benefits of the new subscription‑style setup.
What staff reported
- Enrollment and timing: The team launched a soft rollout in mid‑September. As of the committee update, staff said 726 of roughly 975 planned permittees had registered in the new system and about 249 remained to transition. Staff said they gave a one‑week grace period after the soft launch and are requiring customers to sign up to retain permit access; customers who have not transitioned will be treated as unpaid and subject to hourly rates.
- Operational benefits: Staff said the new system will permit immediate activation and termination of permits, reduce manual processing by finance and counter staff, and allow more timely customer service. Parking staff noted future functionality possibilities — for example, removing the need for a physical HID proximity card by using mobile or scanner‑based access — but said they paused a prepay “wallet” function to simplify the initial rollout.
- Customer service: Staff credited operations and maintenance teams and named specific staff — accounting assistant Kayla Fair and permit counter staff including Ethan Pitney — for intensive customer support during the transition. Staff said the system integrates with existing revenue and access control hardware; some iterative debugging and configuration remain.
Next steps and committee response
Committee members had no objections and praised staff for the customer‑service effort. Staff said they will continue outreach to the remaining permittees, complete iterative system configuration (including the later rollout of wallet/prepay features), and evaluate options to deploy scanners or mobile access in a later phase.
Background: the change replaces a decades‑old, manual permit workflow (paper applications, mailed checks and manual card issuance) with an online subscription model intended to speed service and reduce administrative workload.
