City To Test Mobile Parking Payment App In Spring

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 10, 2014 8:45PM

The “pay by cell” option that was part of last year’s renegotiated parking meter deal will undergo a pilot test downtown sometime this spring before being rolled out across the city. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a news conference Monday the program will make it easier to sell more pieces of our souls to Chicago Parking Meters, LLC park without the hassle of having to find a farebox and enter cash or a credit card.

There are two advantages to the smartphone payment option. First, using the app means motorists don’t have to place printed receipts on their dashboards, thus saving in paper waste from the meter fareboxes. Gapers Block did some number crunching and theorized the parking meters created 45 tons in waste annually thanks to the stickers they print out, which contain a non-recyclable “pressure sensitive adhesive” backing.

The second advantage would be motorists would receive a warning their time at a parking spot will expire, asking if they want to extend their time at a parking spot and can simply add to their time with a simple text. Motorists would have to enter the meter number and parking time into the app to buy parking time.

The main disadvantage, of course, is that Chicago Parking Meters now has another revenue stream to milk and they will. In addition to the parking meter revenue a 35-cent “convenience fee” will be tacked on to parking stays of less than two hours. Their rationale, according to DNAInfo Chicago, is that CPM feared losing money via the pay by cell program. So you wither pay for at least two hours of parking or they’ll nickel-and-dime you. That’s brilliant.

The parking app, when ready for testing, will be available for iPhone and Android users and will require a credit card for registration. Emanuel promised a gradual “neighborhood by neighborhood” rollout if the pilot program is successful.