In a couple of years, more people in downtown Vancouver will have a much harder time using the old “I need to update the meter” excuse to get out of meetings.
The city of Vancouver is looking to expand a pay-by-phone parking meter service in downtown during the next two years.
Currently, drivers have the option of paying for parking with credit and debit cards and PayPal via a digital service called Parkmobile at about 100 parking spaces in a three-block area of downtown.
Users have to register with Parkmobile on their website. They can pay using the smartphone app, the company’s website or by calling a toll-free phone number. They also can get a notification 15 minutes before their time expires. Users can then add time to the meter from a phone or computer without having to go outside.
The service was intended to be a six-month pilot project in 2014 to change how users pay for parking, but it never went away. The city plans on expanding the service to other parking meters downtown in 2017 and 2018.
Mike Merrill, parking services manager for the city of Vancouver, said the service can benefit both customers and city employees.
“It’s a valuable option for customers,” he said. “And the more customers are using this other than coins, the less physical labor costs we have with people going out to have to collect coins.”
The two-hour parking meters that currently accept digital payments are between Main Street and Washington Street, from Evergreen Boulevard on the north to Seventh Street on the south. Meters that are part of the program are identifiable by the Parkmobile sticker.
The meter still reads “expired” after someone pays through Parkmobile, but the payment information is sent to the city’s parking enforcement officer’s electronic hand-held ticketing devices. They know how much time is actually left by looking up a car’s license plate number.
Drivers still get a free 20 minutes at the meter and pay the same city parking rate of 50 cents per hour, but Parkmobile charges an extra 35-cent fee for every use.
The service doesn’t cost the city money, he said, but the bank does charge a fee for electronic transactions.
Merrill said more than 1,800 transactions were made using the app in 2015. Although use is increasing, only about 2 percent of potential customers use Parkmoble for parking, he said.
