Georgia Tech Parking and Transportation Services — Attraction in Atlanta

I'm giving an 1 star here only because there's no option for 0 star. This place is not here to help anyone—they make everything confusing, give zero support, and only care about squeezing more money out of students. Frustrating, disorganized, and downright predatory.

I bought a parking permit in person, at their office, and after parking for some days, they suddenly told me that due to a “new policy” students can’t park there anymore. Excuse me? If I got the permit directly from your office, how can you sell it to me and only afterwards say it’s not valid? That’s your mistake, not mine. And when I asked for help, they didn’t fix anything or take responsibility—they just told me to go call the office myself, then hang up my phone. Completely rude, unprofessional, and careless.

On top of that, the lots are always full. I once parked inside the designated area, not on the white stripes, and still got ticketed for “No Parking Zone.” Meanwhile, I see other cars parked there every single day with no ticket. The enforcement is inconsistent, unclear, and flat-out unfair.

Then I learned (only after calling them!) about something called an “Out of Area Parking Request.” This option doesn’t even exist in the online driverseat portal, isn’t mentioned anywhere during purchase, and nobody ever bothered to explain it. How are people supposed to know?

I think our school is great, which is why I genuinely wonder what kind of relationship or affiliation exists between my school and this transportation center, because they act more like predators against students than supporters, with a business model that seems designed to create more problems instead of...

I paid for a permit, and suddenly my Buzzcard just doesn’t work to get into the lot. No notice that the system was changing, nothing.

I called 5 separate times:

Day 1: No one picked up.

Day 2: Two different workers told me “it should be working” — but it wasn’t.

Day 3: One person said it was a carpool permit issue and they’d open the gate. Then another said it wasn’t just carpool, other students couldn’t get in either, and told me to park at an alternative lot (that’s always full).

After emailing, they said it was an issue with my Buzzcard and that it should be fixed (still isn’t). Another time I was told it was a power outage at a specific gate — even though I saw people getting in with their cards.

Every time I talk to someone, I get a different excuse. One person even said I should’ve called Dispatch instead of Customer Service, even though Customer Service was who I was originally told to call.

At this point, you don’t even need a Buzzcard to get in — the system is just broken. No clear communication, no consistent answers, and...

Terrible communication. I was unaware that the parking bill transfers to your student account until AFTER I completed my transaction. Trust me, I tried to find it before hand. I bought a semester permit thinking I didnt have the funds to buy an annual permit, later to find that you dont get billed immediately. Then the worst part of it all: since I bought a semester permit, I have to get another by next semester. Unfortunately, theres only one time a year to renew permits. I had to put myself on a waitlist. I got the spot Ithat I applied for, later to find that the permit still costs $675 and this time you CANT be billed later on. For the waitlist, you have to be billed immediately. Idk about you all, but I dont have $675 to spend this late in the semester. Now I am stuck hopeing the smart park will have open spots in January, because I dont have the funds to use smart park for the rest of the current semester. Ah how wonderful, the life of a...