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06/25/2019 12:00 AMThe new online beach pass system is up and running as promised before July 4, but there are still some growing pains that need to be worked through. Residents have reported issues or glitches with the online site and town officials are trying to solve them.
The new system was supposed to be ready to go by Memorial Day weekend but the software wasn’t ready, leaving the town to start beach season with a combination of last year’s passes and hanging passes. That system will continue to be honored through the end of this week as the town keeps working to correct some of the digital issues.
“As [Beach and Recreation Director] Scot Erskine would say, ‘We probably need some tweaks’,” said First Selectman Tom Banisch. “I would say we probably need a little bit more than tweaks but the good news is people are getting their passes. The line here today was moving along and staff was able to fix the glitches.”
In the past, residents would go to the Beach & Recreation Office at Town Campus to purchase a physical beach pass, a sticker for the car.
Under the new system being developed, once a user is registered, the license plate on a car will become the beach pass, similar to how the state parks run their parking system. Madison residents will go online to register their license plate with the system and pay the standard price for the pass.
The new electronic system will have the same pricing model as last year. For 2019 beach passes, taxpayers up to the age of 59 are charged $40 for first permit and $20 for each additional vehicle in their name. Seniors are charged $10 per vehicle. Veterans are charged $10 for the first car and $20 for any additional vehicle.
Once the system is underway, when a resident goes to the beach, there will no longer be a gate guard checking plates, which town officials hope will cut down on lines. Town employees—the Beach & Rec summer staff—will instead patrol the parking lot with a handheld license plate reader they’ll use to scan the plates to determine if the cars are registered with the town system as a beach pass purchaser.
Complus Data provides the system being developed. Town officials say there was no upfront cost to bring this digital system online; the company providing the software and license plate readers takes a percentage of any permits issued to cover costs.
Banisch said a team from Complus was in town over the weekend to help try to fix some of the issues.
“I will admit that we are having some difficulties with it but the good news is we have had over 1300 people have gotten passes and half of those have been done online,” he said. “We are finding there are some glitches online and I think part of the problem is some of the instructions were not written very clearly and the other part probably is people like me who just don’t do very well working with tech equipment.”
Banisch said staff at the Beach and Recreation office and down at the Surf Club are ready and willing to help residents who are experiencing issues. Banisch said he knows that how quickly one can get through the online registration system has been a bit of an issue.
“A lot of it is people getting frustrated if it doesn’t work right away,” he said. “For instance I went online and Eileen went online at the same time. She had hers done in six minutes, and I just gave up…In a week or so things are going to be a lot better but we got a lot of people processed today. It is not ideal yet but we are getting there.”