Pay Parking Meters by Cell
San Francisco is running a pay-by-mobile phone pilot project for parking meters. The program started on September 10 and will last for 90 days.
With a pay by mobile system, drivers can call a local or toll-free phone number posted on a meter to set up their initial customer account. During this initial set up, drivers will be asked to provide a credit card number. You can also do the setup online.
After an account is established, the driver’s cell phone number will be automatically linked with their account, and they can begin to pay for meter time with their cell phone by entering the eight digit meter number and the amount of time they need. They will also receive a text message reminder before time runs out and can add more time (up to the time limit) without having to return to the meter.
The city is using different vendors for the trial areas. In the Inner Richmond neighborhood, Verrus Mobile Technologies, Inc. is tied in the meters in the trial parking lots. Zipidy, Inc. is doing lots in the Marina. This allows the transit authority to evaluate and compare multiple technologies at the same time.
SFMTA will also be evaluating the various methods used by companies to charge fees to drivers for the pay-by-cell phone service. One company will charge a $0.35 per transaction customer service fee, one company will charge a $5.00 per month user fee, and one company will provide the service for free.
(I don’t think any service that charges the customer an extra fee to pay for the meter won’t work. Many people use the meter for short periods of time and even a small 35-cent fee will result in doubling the cost of parking there for 10 minutes, which is a quarter in many areas.)
To check the parking status of each space, a meter enforcement officer monitors each meter with a wireless handheld ticketing device. The handheld device receives real-time data from a server at an off-site location, which signals to the officer whether a space is paid or not. The technology also allows the Department of Parking and Traffic to view which parking spaces are paid or not paid in real-time through the Internet.
During this 90-day pilot period, SFMTA will be collecting customer comments on the new technology through a phone number displayed on the pay stations: (415) 503-2060.
Keith
Now that the experiments have gone on awhile - what do you think of paying by cell phone?
The fees are a little high, especially if you just need to park for 20-30 min. But paying by phone beats getting a ticket when you’re out of change for the meter! I hope they continue it.