How I Automated Parking Permit Purchases at GMU with Python

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As a grad student at George Mason University (GMU), I commute to Fairfax once a week for evening classes. Like many commuters, I need parking — but only for a few hours, usually 4–7 PM.

Buying a semester-long permit didn’t make sense for my schedule (or wallet). Instead, the daily parking permits turned out to be cheaper and more flexible.

The problem? I always procrastinated. I’d remember to buy a permit at the last minute, sometimes right before class. It was stressful, repetitive, and just annoying.

So, being a CS student, I did what came naturally:

👉 I automated the entire process.

The Idea

Every week, I needed to:

1. Go to the GMU parking portal.
2. Log in with my credentials.
3. Navigate through a bunch of menus.
4. Select the right permit.
5. Enter payment details.

It was the same steps every time. Why not let Python handle it?

The Tool

I built a small open-source tool in Python that:

• Automates login to the GMU parking portal up to the Duo Mobile 2FA step (which still requires approval on your phone).
• Selects the correct daily parking permit.
• Completes the checkout flow.
• Emails me a confirmation when done.

That’s it — no more last-minute scrambling.

📽️ Demo Video: YouTube

💻 Source Code: GitHub – GMU Daily Permit Automation

Tech Breakdown

At its core, this project uses:

• Selenium – to control a browser and interact with the GMU parking site.
• Headless mode – so it runs quietly in the background.
• Config + Environment variables – to keep credentials and payment info safe.
• Task scheduling (optional) – you could use cron (Linux/Mac) or Task Scheduler (Windows) to kick off the script automatically. I usually just run it manually before class.
• Duo Mobile 2FA – you’ll still need to approve the login from your phone. The script pauses at this step until Duo is confirmed.

Here’s a simplified example of what the login step looks like in Python with Selenium:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys

# Start the browser (headless mode can be enabled too)
driver = webdriver.Chrome()

# Go to GMU parking login page
driver.get("https://gmu.t2hosted.com/Account/Portal")

# Enter username
username_input = driver.find_element(By.ID, "username")
username_input.send_keys("myusername")

# Enter password
password_input = driver.find_element(By.ID, "password")
password_input.send_keys("mypassword")
password_input.send_keys(Keys.RETURN)

# (From here, the script navigates menus and purchases the permit)

The real project handles edge cases, payment, and confirmation, but this snippet shows the basic automation flow.

Lessons Learned

A few interesting takeaways while building this:

• University systems often don’t have APIs, so web automation is sometimes the only option.
• Security matters – never hardcode sensitive info; use config files or environment variables.
• Even small automations can save you from recurring stress (and are great coding practice).

Try It Yourself

If you’re at GMU (or curious about automation), you can try it out:

👉 GitHub Project

The README has setup instructions. Just remember: use responsibly — the tool isn’t affiliated with GMU Parking Services, and you should only automate your own account.

Final Thoughts

This project started as a way to save myself from procrastination, but it turned into a fun automation experiment. It’s one of those small quality-of-life improvements that adds up.

If you’re a fellow GMU commuter, hopefully this helps you too. And if you’re a developer, maybe it’ll inspire you to automate some of your own daily annoyances.

While Duo Mobile means this isn’t 100% hands-free, it still saves me from repeating the same web clicks every week.