Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1169916
should save tons of money, when pro- duction costs, mailing/shipping and employee working hours are figured into the equation vs. the same ex- penses for the digital system. One can assume these digital technology geeks somewhere are now trying to do a sim- ilar transition for parking passes. Im- possible, huh? Remember when paper tickets were the standard for toll roads? Now, the vehicle has a transponder attached or near the front window that allows driv- ers to go through the toll booths with- out stopping. Travelers without the transponder still have to use a paper ticket and waste their precious time waiting in line to get the ticket and then spend more time to pay the toll at what almost always seems like the only booth available. Look what happened after Penn State announced the implementation of a new game day traffic flow and parking system last November. That move sparked such outrage that many of the 100,000-plus fans were ready to march on Beaver Stadium with pitchforks and portable guillotines. It's still a work in progress, as the anger and complaints have continued since the rules went into effect at this season's opening game. Then a week or so before that first game, an outside company retained by Penn State began hiring and training a new staff of parking lot attendants. Pre- vious parking attendants had to go through the hiring process, and many did. But the number or percentage of those attendants hired back was still fluid when this column was written. We can only hope those mostly friendly and convivial relationships the ushers and fans developed over the years that helped make tailgating fun are not lost in all this. It might seem like science fiction, but it wouldn't surprise me to someday see robot parking lot attendants replacing the homo sapiens. I can hardly wait until the driverless cars and RVs start hitting those robot parking lot attendants and the robots retaliate. ■ !!&&$" #$& &" % "$ $% No. 70 in Lou Prato's book ' ( Autographed copies available via louprato@comcast.net or through Lou Prato & Associates at 814-954-5171 Price: $16.95 plus shipping, handling and tax where applicable Also available with autograph: Lou's book "We Are Penn State: The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions" Price: $19.95 plus shipping and tax where applicable FOOTBALL