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:
- Go to the GMU parking portal.
- Log in with my credentials.
- Navigate through a bunch of menus.
- Select the right permit.
- 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:
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.
As always, thanks for reading. If you liked the article please add a reaction or two so other users can find it more easily. Also feel free to give me a follow at ritvik-nag to stay up to date with any articles I publish.
Originally published at https://ritviknag.com on September 4, 2025.
Top comments (1)
I’ve been using Python to automate a bunch of daily stuff-sorting emails, scraping news updates, and keeping my calendar in check. It’s been pretty awesome, honestly. Saves a ton of time on repetitive tasks, though debugging and handling edge cases can still be a pain. But overall, web automation really shines when it comes to things like filling out job apps, tracking e-commerce prices, or scheduling social media posts. One thing that’s tricky though is dealing with 2FA. I’ve found using tools like Twilio for SMS codes or app-based 2FA really smooths things out. As for keeping sensitive info safe, I store credentials in environment variables or encrypted storage to keep things locked down.