Flowbird Group, a global leader in smart city and campus solutions, has announced that it has launched the Flowbird app on the campus of The Catholic University of America. Located in Washington, DC, Catholic University faces the same challenges many schools face, especially schools set in urban areas. With a limited parking supply, and a parking population with varied needs, the university looked to Flowbird to help manage daily parking with a simple, touchless solution – the Flowbird mobile app.
Catholic University started working with Flowbird several years ago when multi-space parking kiosks were installed in three parking locations. In 2020, university staff decided to add mobile payments as an additional way to pay for parking in kiosk locations and the app was launched for the start of the Spring 2021 semester. Additionally, the Flowbird app was rolled out into additional parking areas to bring better parking controls and automation to those locations.
The Flowbird app, available on the App Store for iOS and the Google Play Store for Android, provides users with a map-based user interface, making it simple for users to select their parking location without manually inputting a zone code or scanning a QR code. Parkers can get a reminder notification when their time is about to expire and they can extend their time right from their mobile device. Walking directions back to their original parking location are also a handy feature of the app.
A key aspect of the Flowbird solution that has been adopted by the university is the use of validation codes for campus visitors that are taking a university tour. University staff create the electronic validations using Flowbird’s back-office management suite, and provide the codes to the visitors. Upon arrival on campus, the visitor opens the Flowbird app, enters the validation code, and they are on their way.
Another important functionality that Flowbird delivers to the university is the integration of all kiosk payments and Flowbird app payments in the same reporting module. This provides university staff the ability to view all parking activity in one place, broken down by payment method.
“We are very excited to launch the Flowbird app on campus,” said J. Charles Lavallee, Associate Director of Transportation and Parking Services. “As more and more people are returning to campus, we are seeing the Flowbird app as an extremely convenient and beneficial tool.”
The Flowbird app is now available in over 100 parking locations across the United States, and the Flowbird mobile platform generated over 26 million transactions globally in 2020. For more information, please visit www.flowbirdapp.com.