There was a lot of disturbance as students complained of issues concerning the release of the parking pass permits online Wednesday.
Several students complained of long online “lines” in the system that would crash once the student was at the front, sending the student to the end of the line.
Jeremiah Dumas, the director of Parking and Transit Services at Mississippi State University, said there was a higher volume of people on their online lobby than normal at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
“This created processing issues and a bottle neck that took some time to clear,” Dumas said. “While we are grateful that most of the issues were identified by mid-morning, we sincerely apologize to those who experienced delays and related problems.”
One of the students who had issues with the parking services was Hevyn Poret, a senior psychology major from Kiln. Poret said she was mad about it, especially since she and her boyfriend, among others, had other things to do.
“We woke up at 7:30 this morning and got on at exactly 8,” Poret said. “Then it put us in line and we would get to the line and it would freeze or put us back to the end of the line.”
Several other students took to Twitter to talk about the issues on Wednesday.
so. mississippi state is ranked number three in the nation for cyber security, yet cannot figure out a parking permit application..???? lmk
— Allison Paxson (@AllisonPaxson) July 19, 2017
I love the community at Mississippi State bc we always come together and share the same hatred for parking services every year
— Jōb (@JobRiveraa) July 19, 2017
While the crashing and being sent to the end of the line were an issue for some students, Terrika Washington, a junior communication major with a journalism emphasis from Greenville, said she was upset about the wait time in general.
“The wait time was 30 minutes. It made me very irritated,” Washington said. “I feel as if they should do something different because there are tons of students at MSU.”
While these issues persisted, there were even some other students who, despite these issues, were successfully able to purchase their decal.
One of those students was Add Mathis, a junior mechanical engineering major from Waynesboro. Mathis said it took him roughly an hour to obtain his permit, but he did not have any issues.
“I had the computer up and running during class,” Mathis said. “The system did not kick me out like some of the others did.”
Dumas said at its peak, there were over 6,000 students in the online lobby, and by 1 p.m., the lobby was clear without wait time.
“We are taking steps to ensure a similar situation doesn’t occur in the future,” Dumas said. “Meanwhile, we appreciate everyone’s understanding and help, especially those who responded so quickly to address the issues.”
Contact Jordan Darensbourg at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.