17 Apr Pay to Park with Your Smart Phone
Beaufort, Parkmobile partner for mobile app to pay for city parking
App allows customers to use their mobile devices to easily pay for parking in downtown Beaufort.
A new smartphone application lets people use their phones to pay for parking at approximately 500 on- and off-street parking spaces throughout downtown Beaufort.
The app works with iPhone, Android and Windows phones and is a big step in convenience, Beaufort City Manager Bill Prokop said.
“With this mobile app, you can use your phone to pay for parking, no matter where you are,” he said. “If you are in a two-hour parking spot but thought you’d be done eating in an hour, you can use the phone to add the extra money for a longer lunch. Or, rather than trying to find that last quarter in the ashtray of your car, you can just pay with your phone. It’s a customer convenience.”
Park Beaufort/SP+, Parkmobile, LLC and the City of Beaufort are partners with the pay to park on-the-go app. Alice Wallace, facilities manager for Park Beaufort/SP+, has helped integrate the system into Beaufort’s downtown parking management program.
To use the Parkmobile system, customers can register for free through the app or at www.parkmobile.com. Once registered, they can use the mobile app, the Internet, or call the toll-free number listed on the Parkmobile meter stickers and signs to pay for parking.
After setting up their account, customers can begin using the system with their registered mobile device. Enforcement officers, using a wireless handheld device, will be able to see that a motorist has paid with Parkmobile. All payments made through the app are secure.
Another benefit, said Linda Roper, director of downtown operations and community services, is that users may choose to receive customized reminders as their parking time gets close to expiring.
“The time limits on meters and lots still apply and the app won’t allow users to buy more time than allotted by the meters,” she said. “This is strictly a tool for convenience and is an added payment option. Our meters and pay stations still take bills, coins and credit cards.”
The mobile app has been in use in Beaufort since April 1. The app underwent extensive testing prior to bringing it to Beaufort, said Jon Ziglar, CEO of Parkmobile.
“We are thrilled to partner with Beaufort to offer this technology — offering drivers an easier, more convenient way to pay for parking,” Ziglar said. “We hope users will appreciate being able to use our app to simply pay from their phones instead of searching for coins to park.”
Parkmobile is the country’s most widely used mobile parking solution with five million people using their services over 30 million times per year.
As reported in the Packet/Gazette