Parking pass windshield policy!

Pete, what is RFID?(radio frquency identification?) I think the Chicago area tollroads use that for frequent drivers and have a lane set aside where they drive right thru and it bills their account automatically. Definitly saves time and reduces line for cash payers.

crazy horse said:
Plus, they could designate(sp) a lane for pass holders.

I doubt that would ever work. In theory it's a great idea, but in reality, people do not read signs and do not go where signs indicate they should. You'd end up with pass holders in every line, and regulars in the pass holder line. It's easy to redirect people to different turnstiles, it's not so easy to redirect cars to different parking booths.

Put a person in the SP booth to handle the non SP people who happen to get in that line.

Charge the SPers who get in the wrong lane 15 bucks. Maybe that'll spur them into actually reading the signs.

(or you could put in-booth swipers in those other booths).

Although RFID (like EZpass or SunPass) is a great concept, I doubt that would be cost effective in a small installation like CP. Their overhead cost to implement such a system wouldn't really benefit them at all. Sure it would make the parking situation REALLY easy for passholders, but it'd do nothing for CP's bottom line.

I also doubt CP would ever take up the "free" parking idea. You have to keep in mind that they charge EVERYONE the $10 parking. Resort guests, park guests, TGIFriday's patrons, Soak City guests, Marina guests, people just driving through, etc... So, from a business perspective, they'd "lose" a lot of money off of parking from the system they have now if they incorporated it into the admission ticket to CP.

Great Adventure is supposedly installing an "automated" toll plaza during the off-season, so it will be interesting to see what that entails.

The scanned barcode option seems to be the easiest to implement, has the cheapest overhead and is the most effective at preventing "fraud". But, like Walt said, for some reason or another, CP decided not to go that route.

^ well, they refund the parking of resort guests when they check in.

Only two per room. They still made an additional $20 off the cabin we rented for parking because we had to drive separate because we were coming from different locales.

Ok, reading this topic has finally got me to sign in and post for once in a long time.

Here's my overall thoughts about the parking deal:
It's a sticker, large enough for even me to see (and I'm legally blind without visual assistance such as contacts).
The Point has made this decision based upon the 'least loss & fastest' concept, here's what I mean:
Loss to the point comes from long lines are the toll booths and the time taken to read the Season Pass Parking thingie. It was quite difficult to pick out the 'P'. Sometimes the person who held the pass looks different, I myself was part of that 'change'. I had to verify my 'looks' using my DL. That took about 45 sec.
Here, the person just needs to see a white and (whatever color) sticker and say "move along, nothing to see here" and on your way to your cramped parking space to enjoy your day.

Now, the stickers being a problem? I don't think so, especially if you're from PA. They have the same attributes as the inspection stickers and can easily be removed (ask your state inspector for help). Keep your windshield CLEAN! on the inside. Manytimes have I ridden with drivers who run their defrost in the middle of the summer because of a dirty windshield.

It's their decision to increase speed through the toll booths. Now if we can get the exact change lanes going, then we'll be great!

But, what's the ratio of parking pass holders to non holders?

I'd be curious to see how removing the parking option on the season pass will affect Joe Cool purchases.

Frito Joe said:
Pete, what is RFID?(radio frquency identification?) I think the Chicago area tollroads use that for frequent drivers and have a lane set aside where they drive right thru and it bills their account automatically. Definitly saves time and reduces line for cash payers.

You got it right Frito Joe, that's exactly what it is.

I doubt the system is cost prohibitive for CP. Single lane readers aren't that expensive, an automated season pass lane would not require a worker and they could add the resident passes to the system. I believe there is already a dedicated resident (Chausee) lane with a gate on the far right of the toll booths. Turn that into a lane for both season pass holders and residents, give everyone a RFID tag and make everyone happy. Same thing with Marina parking, put in a gate and get ride of those ugly stickers.

You'd still want to man that booth though. There will be idiots who don't read the signs and end up in that lane despite not having passes. And in the middle of the morning rush to the park, there'd be no way for them to back out and move to a different lane.

Or even better idea, RFID all the lanes (wouldn't be that hard or expensive) and when you pull up it signals to the cashier that you are good to go and they can wave you through.

I still think they'd want to put some kind of time delayed blocking mechanism in though, where you can't go through the gates again for X amount of time. Although I guess if that's not an issue now, it wouldn't be an issue with a scanning system.

They just announced a "all ohio" sticker Pki,cp, and geauga lake.

DJTheC said:

Now, the stickers being a problem? I don't think so, especially if you're from PA. They have the same attributes as the inspection stickers and can easily be removed (ask your state inspector for help).

Yes, but I thought that the only stickers allowed on that part of the windshield were the inspection/emission stickers or permits issued by cities/government? All the others have to be hanging from the rearview or in the back somewhere.

You saw it too, Crazy Horse!http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/admission/season_passes/prices.cfm Now all they need is an All-Ohio Season Pass Decal or All-Ohio RFID!!!!

What about rear view mirror tags? Just get them handicap tags out of the way (most of them aren't needed anyway.)

I think they're trying to avoid being able to transfer them to different vehicles as much as possible.

Well, at Kings Dominion, if you had a Gold Pass, one of the perks was preferred parking. There was a limited amount of parking spaces, (80-100), that were near the main gate that were fenced off. After you have your pass scanned at the main parking entrance, you could drive over to the preferred parking gate, insert and remove your gold season pass from a reader. The reader would scan the season pass bar code and, if valid, would raise the gate and let you drive through to park. Course this was a first come - first serve perk and if no spaces were left, you had to park out in the main lot.

I have had CP passes in the past and always liked that the Parking was affixed to the pass. I now get Dorney Park passes because every pass comes with parking. You just show your pass at the tool booth I also get parking passes for SFGA and SF America, SFGA is a hag tag, like a handicap placard. And SF America was a small plastic clingibg one that could be removed and placed on another vechile. Does anyone know why they did away with it on your pass? I don't see how there could be fraud if you pay for parking and have your pass with your picture on it.

^ I'd check with Dorney. Its my understanding that the window sticker thing is chain wide, not just a CP thing. So none of the parks are offering "on pass" parking.

I just got off Dorney Park's web site and they don't list a way to buy a parking pass.