Pay Parking by Smart Phone

[XT225]

They should expand the program so that you can pay parking/traffic tickets via smart phone.

The only thing that I can see that would improve customer service is to allow payment of city fines on their website. Even give a slight break if you pay it that way; similar to paying a power bill sooner than the deadline. ETA: maybe you CAN pay fines online; not sure; been many moons since I ever got a parking ticket.

[alanjh595]

They should expand the program so that you can pay parking/traffic tickets via smart phone.

The only thing that I can see that would improve customer service is to allow payment of city fines on their website. Even give a slight break if you pay it that way; similar to paying a power bill sooner than the deadline. ETA: maybe you CAN pay fines online; not sure; been many moons since I ever got a parking ticket.

It has been a very long time since I too have received a parking/driving fine that I can't remember if I have ever had one (Maybe 40+ years ago). I thought that you got a 50% reduction in fine if it was paid within 14 days. I could be wrong and just heard it on a TV show "Parking Wars"?

[Bunnyhop]

Maybe there will be less vandalism of parking meters though, if there's little or no cash in them.

I'm all for using the parking meters through an app on my Smartphone. Rarely have change, and I've twice now got a parking ticket because I was less than 15 minutes over my meter. Meetings and appointments run late, and we can't always excuse ourselves to refill the meter. The app is great for those situations.

However, I'm already using a parking meter app PaybyPhone and I've no plans to add a second app just because the CoP decides to be different.

[alanjh595]

I don't have a Smart phone. I have a small bag of change in my glovebox.

[Dizzy1]

How things have changed

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#209820

It used to be that street parking was intended for brief periods of parking. To encourage movement of vehicles parking meters were insralled in large cities like Vancouver.

The idea was not so much to make money, but to keep vehicles from parking for long periods. Someone is going to say, "but all uou have to do is put more money in the meter".

Not so, there was a bylaw prohibiting "re-metering", and as well from parking in the same block to avoid being overtime in one spot.

The idea, being if there is street parking available, retail customers for stores in the area would be able to park and shop.

I guess now, it's just a consideration of how much the city can earn, to heck with the merchant.

Countries in Europe had this model back in the 90s.

Text your plate number and time you wanted to a given number and it came on your phone bill. Same went for bus fares and vending machines. Really goes to show us how far in the dark ages we've been left

When you needed more time, just re-text.

[twobits]

How things have changed

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#209820

It used to be that street parking was intended for brief periods of parking. To encourage movement of vehicles parking meters were insralled in large cities like Vancouver.

The idea was not so much to make money, but to keep vehicles from parking for long periods. Someone is going to say, "but all uou have to do is put more money in the meter".

Not so, there was a bylaw prohibiting "re-metering", and as well from parking in the same block to avoid being overtime in one spot.

The idea, being if there is street parking available, retail customers for stores in the area would be able to park and shop.

I guess now, it's just a consideration of how much the city can earn, to heck with the merchant.

Back in the day it was 10 cents to park for an hour or two. That rate opened up the possibility for abuse.....mostly by those employed in the downtown area. The rate was meant to be an inconvenience to people to run out and plug the meter, not a revenue generator. With rates now at what....a buck an hour now, it is not only an inconvenience to plug the meter but also more expensive than just buying a spot in long term parking. Cost is now the deterrent to hogging a spot.
I am more interested in the Downtown Merchants take on this. If I were a merchant I would seriously consider the benefits of this "pay by phone" possibility because it takes away the pain of going out to plug the meter while one sits in a bar or restaurant for hours and spends money at no more than one business during the whole time. What businesses are going to be the beneficiaries of easy pay parking? Ones that want to browse their goods or ones looking to keep a captive market for as long as possible? I don't know but am suspect as to the benefits.

[Darkre]

Back in the day it was 10 cents to park for an hour or two. That rate opened up the possibility for abuse.....mostly by those employed in the downtown area. The rate was meant to be an inconvenience to people to run out and plug the meter, not a revenue generator. With rates now at what....a buck an hour now, it is not only an inconvenience to plug the meter but also more expensive than just buying a spot in long term parking. Cost is now the deterrent to hogging a spot.
I am more interested in the Downtown Merchants take on this. If I were a merchant I would seriously consider the benefits of this "pay by phone" possibility because it takes away the pain of going out to plug the meter while one sits in a bar or restaurant for hours and spends money at no more than one business during the whole time. What businesses are going to be the beneficiaries of easy pay parking? Ones that want to browse their goods or ones looking to keep a captive market for as long as possible? I don't know but am suspect as to the benefits.

The article has a statement from the Executive Director of the DTPA who seems to think it's a great idea and they are supposed to represent the views of the businesses in the area so it would seem that they are in support of this pilot project.

From the article:
"“Passport Parking app allows you the convenience of parking without having to carry change for the parking meters. You’ll be notified in advance when your time is running low on funds and you can refill it remotely – no more running to your car! This technology will be extremely convenient for our downtown businesses and their customers,” says Lynn Allin, Executive Director of the Downtown Penticton Association."

[southy]

Did the DPA Executive Director say she or her staff actually discussed this app with local downtown businesses? If you did your research you would discover the answer is NO!! As well in my opinion do you really think for a minute the DPA is going to say no to anything the city suggests?

[twobits]

If I were a downtown business owner I would think seriously about not supporting this method of payment. With the limited and now reduced parking spaces available, it seems counter intuitive to provide the opportunity for people to hog a parking spot with the convenience of their smart phone. If I am a business owner I want parking turnover and foot traffic. No one goes downtown to browse shop. They go downtown to go to a specific business. They want to get in and out easily and letting people pay by remote does those businesses no benefit. I know we have become a world of tech but who does not have a quarter or loon in their pocket.

[ToddT]

I know we have become a world of tech but who does not have a quarter or loon in their pocket.

Not saying I disagree with what you said but I never carry cash. Anything at all.

[spooker]

While many have mentioned that this will allow people to abuse the system and not have to get off their butts to extend their parking it seems that users are limited by the maximum time limits for each area ... coins would allow someone to go out there and renew the meter but the app will block you if you try and extend it past the max time, turnover!

Both PayByPhone and Passport have this documented.

[my5cents]

Apparently the smart phone apps can be programed, such, that a user can't overstay (or should I say over pay) the time limit, because the car could remain after the money runs out.

Some cities use this function, and I gather some don't.

The media in it's "wisdom" (did I just include "media" and "wisdom" in a sentence ???) and as usual, either didn't care or had no idea of the background of parking meters, didn't bring up that issue.... Oh,, for a well informed decent media <sigh>

I agree with those who say, "if the app prevents paying for more than the maximum stay time" that's better than manually feeding of meters with coins.

If the smart phone system doesn't prohibit overtime parking by allowing re-metering, it allows some to hog parking spaces for lengthy times, driving (no pun intended) customers that may have supported downtown retail stores, to the malls.

[twobits]

Guess we'll just have to wait and see if remote re plugging of the meter will be blocked here if it an option. I wonder if a work around might be plugging the meter with coins for max time and then re plugging via phone for double time? Am not familiar with the app and whether it communicates directly by WiFi or a meter number entered on the phone? Or could a party of two or more phones hog the same spot?

[spooker]

Guess we'll just have to wait and see if remote re plugging of the meter will be blocked here if it an option. I wonder if a work around might be plugging the meter with coins for max time and then re plugging via phone for double time? Am not familiar with the app and whether it communicates directly by WiFi or a meter number entered on the phone? Or could a party of two or more phones hog the same spot?

When you register to pay by app you put in your license plate number and vehicle details. Having two accounts with the same license plate would probably have some flags raised if they were used consequetively. The app communicates with a server that registers the meter identifying number, the amount to be paid, and the vehicle details. When the meter officer (not using 'maid') comes around and sees a vehicle parked at a meter that is expired they'll query the server with the meter number and get back the results, if it's paid up and what the license plate is. If the plate doesn't match the vehicle they'll issue a ticket even if there are minutes on the meter. Benefit to the meter operator since the second car can't take advantage of leftover minutes like you can with coins.

Your suggestion of using coins for the max, then remotely paying for another max amount of time might be able to get a vehicle double the max, but the question becomes "how much effort do you put out to circumvent it?" when you could just find a long-term parking spot somewhere else ...

[Bunnyhop]

Meter parking is $1/hr. So $8/day and $40/week.

There’s monthly parking spaces within a block of Main St available for less than $50/month.

I can’t see it being a major problem of people meter hogging all day long just because they can refill the meter from their smartphone now. It would cost a fortune.