Privacy Policy

Please refer to the Stanford University online privacy policy, which applies to information or data collected or managed by Stanford Transportation.

In addition, Stanford Transportation provides its privacy policy and license plate data management practices on this website:

For your convenience, we are also providing links to privacy policies of transportation agencies and services in this region:

Stanford Transportation Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy Coverage/Applicability
Key Terms
How Stanford Transportation Uses Your Information
Information Stanford Transportation Shares with Third Parties
How Stanford Transportation Protects Your Personal Information
Knowing Your Choices
Reviewing and Updating Your Personal Information
Changes to this Privacy Policy
License Plate Recognition Data Management Principles
Data Management Principles
Changes to this Policy
Contact Us

Stanford Transportation Privacy Policy

Stanford University (“Stanford”) and the transportation department within Stanford University (“Stanford Transportation”) cares about the privacy and confidentiality of your information. We take protecting your privacy seriously. Please read the following to learn more about how we treat your information collected for transportation programs and operations, including the Stanford Transportation parking system which utilizes License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology. For additional information, please review Stanford University’s Privacy Policy.

LPR is a technology used in our parking management and enforcement program, which is administered by Stanford Transportation and the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (DPS). By using Stanford Transportation's website, including its parking permit management portal, and participating in the parking permit program, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Stanford Transportation Privacy Policy.

Privacy Policy Coverage/Applicability

This Privacy Policy covers our treatment of personal information that we gather when employees, students, affiliated contract workers, and sponsored visitors (“you”) use the Stanford Transportation website or park a vehicle at Stanford’s main campus, Stanford University Medical Center (Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Health at Stanford), Stanford Redwood City, or any other location owned by the university or associated with a current university lease.

Our Privacy Policy does not apply to the information practices or services offered by other organizations or individuals (“Third Parties”), including service providers, contracted vendors, public agencies and others linked from our website.

Key Terms

LPR data

Data that is stored, collected, or generated by a license plate recognition device. Such data can include, but is not limited to:

a context image of a vehicle and its immediate surroundings
an image of the license plate
any parking permissions associated with the vehicle
the duration a vehicle has been parked in a space or within a parking facility
an alphanumeric version of the license plate number, and U.S. state of the license plate, if applicable, generated by software processing of the license plate image which are also stored with the record.
other data associated with the LPR read, such as:
- the LPR device used to conduct the read
- the global positioning system coordinates of the LPR device at the time of the read
- the date and time of the observation
- the parking zone, location, or area selected at the time of the read
- the read status (e.g., uploaded, rejected, hit)
- the staff member logged into the LPR system through the LPR device

Identifiable data

Any data that can be used to identify, contact, or locate an individual, either alone or combined with other easily accessible sources.

De-identified (or aggregated) data

Data that does not identify a specific individual; that is, data from which all identifiers, such as name, email address, Stanford ID, address, and phone number, have been removed.

Information Collected by LPR Program

To participate in Stanford’s LPR-based parking permit program, certain information about your parking usage may be collected. We will obtain information from you and your vehicle in any of the following ways.

Handheld LPR: a handheld device used primarily for enforcement purposes and to assist officers with entering license plate data.
Fixed LPR: a device installed in a (semi)permanent location that tracks vehicles as they drive by the device or park in a parking space. Some examples of where these can be found include, but are not limited to, at the entrances, egresses, or near parking spaces inside of a parking facility, or near roads associated with Stanford properties.
Mobile LPR: fixed LPR devices mounted to a moving vehicle.

While no owner or driver information is stored directly with the LPR record, LPR data is linked to individual customer accounts within the Stanford Transportation parking management system.

Stanford employees and students use Stanford single sign-on to access our online ordering portal through our website. Whether or not you sign into our online ordering portal, Stanford Transportation automatically receives data for customers who have single sign-on access to our system. Data Stanford Transportation receives automatically has been approved by Stanford as information Stanford Transportation needs to administer parking and transportation services effectively at Stanford.

Information you provide:

Registration and Account Setup

When you use our websites (including, but not limited to, the Stanford Transportation and parking permit websites) to create your account during the permit registration process, we collect personal information about you. Stanford Transportation automatically receives certain information about Stanford employees and students, including: name; SUNet ID; email address; university employee ID; phone number; employment type; department; residence and/or work addresses; affiliation; status of affiliation (active, on leave, terminated); preferred contact information; hire date; parking permit type; and method of payment. If you are in a carpool, you also provide the names and email addresses of members in your carpool.

LPR and Transportation Program Participation

As part of the LPR-based parking permit program and other Stanford Transportation programs, we receive or you provide your personal information, including, but not limited to, name, phone number, email address, work and residence addresses, and vehicle information, if applicable.

Stanford Transportation may use data, such as the frequency a vehicle is parked on campus, to determine eligibility and rewards for commute incentive programs.

Data Storage Length

LPR data will be stored for no more than six (6) months. If your vehicle was cited as being parked in violation of university, county or state parking regulations, those incidences are stored for at least one year. Data may be retained longer than one year if the record is part of an investigation or retention is required by law.

Live Chat

If implemented, you would have the option of using our Live Chat feature (provided by an outside vendor) to communicate with Stanford Transportation. This feature collects information including, but not limited to, your name and the communication between yourself and the Stanford Transportation staff.

HTTP Referrer

We may collect non-personally identifiable information about you whenever you interact with the Stanford Transportation website. Non-personal information may include the browser name, the type of computer, and technical information about your means of connection to our website, such as the operating system and the Internet service providers utilized and other similar information.

Web browser cookies

Our website may use “cookies” to enhance your experience. Your web browser places cookies on your hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to track information about you. You may choose to set your web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you choose to reject cookies, some parts of the website may not function properly.

Job information

For the purposes of program planning and evaluation, University Human Resources may share limited information regarding University employees, including university employee ID, job type, worksite address, organization unit and department.

How Stanford Transportation Uses Your Information

We will use your data primarily for the purpose of administering the parking program at Stanford, analyzing campus parking utilization, providing parking availability information to customers (when available), supporting other transportation programs, and evaluating our programs. As such, we will only use your personally identifiable LPR data as described below or permitted by law, and the data are accessible only by limited parties, such as a small subset of the staff of Stanford Transportation, their agents and vendors, and the IT personnel that maintain the data and websites.

As part of our quality control process, your data will be checked for accuracy and corrected when necessary.

Your data may be used for the following purposes:

To allow you to participate in Stanford Transportation programs by accessing Stanford Transportation’s parking management system and to enable Stanford Transportation to administer its parking and other transportation programs and services. Your information is also used to allow you to register and confirm eligibility for a parking permit or other transportation programs. Your information may also be shared with external systems to facilitate use of university parking permits for permission to park.
To issue monetary and other rewards (e.g., commute-based incentives, carpool and vanpool subsidies) and to track participation in various Stanford transportation programs. Your name and employee ID number may be sent to your respective payroll system to issue such incentive(s).
To offer non-monetary prizes to participants. Identifying information of eligible participants, such as name and delivery address, may be sent to an outside vendor for the purpose of issuing prizes and program membership gifts.
To evaluate your parking usage type and frequency to determine if you would benefit from a different permit type or could be eligible for incentive programs.
To request feedback about Stanford’s programs.
To evaluate the effectiveness of programs and services, such as changes in parking choices and/or commute behavior.
To notify you of information, updates, resources, programs, services, initiatives, or surveys related to transportation. For these purposes, your information, including, but not limited to, name, email address, affiliation, Clipper card number, parking permit number, and permit expiration date may be sent to an outside vendor that manages our communications platform.
To calculate parking rates based on utilization among participants as a whole and by groups (e.g., faculty, staff, students, affiliates, and visitors) and to design strategies to increase use of alternatives to driving alone.
To suggest, plan, and improve parking and transportation programs, operations, and services at Stanford University, Stanford Health Care, Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, or other Stanford owned or managed properties.
For use in planning to meet Stanford’s entitlement commitments, such as the University’s General Use Permit.

When used for purposes (1) through (10), your data may be combined with data provided by other university departments and will be subjected to aggregate data analysis and reported both to groups and individuals within Stanford University and to outside groups (e.g., Santa Clara County Planning, City of Palo Alto) and for research, educational, and publication purposes. No identifiable information will be contained in the reports.

Authentication and tracking logs will be used to produce usage statistics and identify potential website improvements. This information does not contain any personally identifiable information.

Information Stanford Transportation Shares with Third Parties

Stanford Transportation uses third-party vendors and IT services for storage and processing of your LPR and other customer data; for the purposes identified in (a) through (j) above; and for administration of the LPR-based and other transportation programs. At the discretion of Stanford Transportation, Stanford Health Care and Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital may be involved in storing LPR data, collecting LPR data, and administering LPR-based transportation programs. Stanford Transportation does not sell or license identifiable LPR data to any third parties for any other purpose.

Aggregated and de-identified data may be shared with Stanford Health Care and Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital for operational and planning purposes. At the discretion of Stanford Transportation, personally identifiable data, (such as employee ID, permit type, employer affiliation) excluding identifiable LPR data, may be shared with the Stanford Health Care and Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital for parking credential, reporting, and other operational purposes.

Identifiable data, excluding identifiable LPR data, may be shared with consultants of Stanford Transportation for the sole purpose of planning efforts designated by Stanford Transportation.

How Stanford Transportation Protects Your Personal Information

Stanford Transportation is committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We maintain safeguards to protect the security, integrity, and privacy of your data, including the following practices:

storing information we collect on computer systems located in controlled facilities with limited access;
protecting the transmission of your information over the Internet, through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol;
using a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosures; and
limiting access to data to authorized personnel only;

We endeavor to protect the privacy of the personal information we hold in our records, but we cannot guarantee complete security. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors, may compromise the security of your personal information.

The Stanford Transportation website contains links to additional programs and websites associated with Stanford. When following a link to another website, you should read that website’s privacy policy or consent form and determine whether you agree with it and are comfortable accepting it.

Knowing Your Choices

You may choose not to visit or use the Stanford Transportation website or participate in Stanford Transportation's programs and services. If you choose not to use the Stanford Transportation website, you will be unable to participate in certain transportation programs, including Stanford’s parking permit program which is based on the LPR system.

You may be able to add, update, or delete certain personal information as explained below. When you update or delete your information, we may maintain a copy of the unrevised information in our records.

Reviewing and Updating Your Personal Information

You may access, and in some cases, edit or delete your information, such as your vehicle information, through the Stanford Transportation website. You may also request a correction to your data, request removal of records from our database or submit any questions or concerns to the Stanford Transportation team using the procedure under “Contacting Us.” Please do not include any high-risk data or other sensitive information in an email or voicemail message.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy will be updated periodically to reflect any material changes in our programs and practices. These changes will be evident by a new “Last Updated” date (see below) and are effective when they are posted to our website. Treatment of information we collect now is subject to the version of the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used.

Stanford Transportation has the discretion to update this policy at any time. We encourage checking this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to periodically review this policy. Your use of Stanford’s transportation and parking services following these changes signifies your acceptance of the policy.

Last Updated: 03/14/2022

License Plate Recognition Data Management Principles

Stanford University (“Stanford”) and Stanford Transportation appreciate your interest in the privacy and confidentiality of your information. We take protecting your privacy seriously. Please read the following to learn more about the data management principles we use to manage and safeguard information collected when you participate in Stanford Transportation programs that use License Plate Recognition (LPR) data. LPR data and other key terms referenced in this policy are defined above.

As of June 2018, Stanford Transportation transitioned its database to a new parking permit management application, which incorporates license-plate recognition (LPR) technology as its parking enforcement system. With this system, license plates replace physical parking permits for many Stanford affiliates who park at the university and in all parking areas managed by Stanford Transportation. Cameras, which are hand-held, affixed to enforcement vehicles, installed on properties owned or managed by Stanford, record the license plates of vehicles for parking enforcement, parking utilization, and transportation program-related purposes.

While it is legal to record the time and location of a vehicle, we understand that some may have data privacy concerns about LPR systems. To address these concerns, along with the increased attention to data security and privacy, Stanford Transportation developed and is providing its data management principles.

This document presents the set of data management principles Stanford Transportation uses for data produced by its LPR program. The principles are based on Stanford University data management policies and has been informed by LPR data management practices from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). In addition, our program is consistent with Santa Clara County’s Automated License Plate Recognition Policy and we actively work to abide by Stanford’s Video Surveillance System Guidelines where applicable.

Data Management Principles

Security/ Privacy

Stanford Transportation will retain license plate and personal data in a secure and private manner, including utilizing cloud infrastructure (such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform).

As with all personally identifiable data at Stanford, data collected through an LPR system will be managed with the appropriate security measures in place. The data will be managed in ways that are consistent with Stanford University’s “High Risk” data classification, including storing data in a system approved by Stanford for this classification.

The “High Risk” data classification specifies that access be limited to those with a need to know. Only the vendor(s) managing the LPR system, Stanford Transportation management, and staff whose work responsibilities includes use of the LPR data will have access to the data.

In addition, there will be strict separation between the license plate data storage and the customer information databases Stanford Transportation operates.

Focused Collection and Use

The enforcement process includes collecting license plate information for vehicles parked in Stanford-enforced parking areas. License plates are publicly available, and scanning can occur in the following ways:

using a handheld device (including those equipped with License Plate Recognition technology or those where plate information is manually entered)
using vehicles equipped with License Plate Recognition technology
through devices equipped with License Plate Recognition technology installed in or near Stanford-enforced parking areas.

Once collected, LPR records are retained for a limited time, no longer than six (6) months unless longer retention is required due to investigations or legal requirements.

Stanford Transportation will only collect, store, and use LPR data for parking and transportation program-related uses, research, or to comply with University policy or the law. These include, but are not limited to, parking lot utilization patterns, permit usage statistics, traffic studies, trip verification for commute incentive programs, enforcement and enforcement efficiency studies, general permit compliance reviews, management of abandoned vehicles, operational parking communications to vehicles in impacted areas (e.g., construction), and daily vehicle relocation patterns.

All access to the LPR data will require individual logins.

Stanford Transportation uses third-party vendors and IT services for storage and processing of LPR data; for the purposes identified in this document and the Stanford Transportation Program Privacy Policy; and for administration of the Stanford Transportation program. Stanford’s Department of Public Safety and third-party parking management vendors will have limited access to LPR data at the time of issuing a citation, when reviewing a citation appeal, or notice of a parking violation. At the discretion of Stanford Transportation, Stanford Health Care and Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital may be involved in storing LPR data, collecting LPR data, and administering LPR-based transportation programs.

Stanford Transportation does not sell or license identifiable data to any third parties for any other purpose. Aggregated LPR data (e.g., number of vehicles parked rather than which specific vehicles are parked) may be shared for research and program management purposes.

No other Stanford department will have access to personally identifiable LPR data nor will they receive information about specific individuals for punitive or other purposes. This includes any requests by managers, Human Resources, or other departments to see the parking records of employees.

Aggregated and de-identified LPR data may be shared with Stanford Health Care and Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital for operational and planning purposes.

Aggregated and de-identified LPR data may be shared with consultants of Stanford Transportation for the sole purpose of planning efforts designated by Stanford Transportation.

Locations

LPR data may be collected on University managed or owned streets, parking lots and structures, other Stanford-enforced parking areas, as well as any location associated with a current university lease.

Transparency

Stanford Transportation is publishing its LPR data management practices and making its approach to LPR available to the public.

Stanford Transportation will maintain a description of its LPR data management practices on its website. The statement will include the data collection, use principles and information about who does and does not have access to the data.

Changes to this Policy

This policy will be updated periodically to reflect any material changes in our programs and practices. These changes will be evident by a new “Last Updated” date (see below) and are effective when they are posted to our website. Treatment of information we collect now is subject to the version of the policy in effect at the time such information is used.

Stanford Transportation has the discretion to update this policy at any time. We encourage checking this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the LPR information being collected. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to periodically review this policy. Your use of Stanford’s transportation and parking services following these changes signifies your acceptance of the policy.