Municipal Parking for the 21st Century

In this article the author describes a recent parking innovation that aims to combine mobile payment systems with pay-and-display systems. Using a toll-free number, customers can pay for their desired parking space via cellular phone. This system, the mobile parking payment method, improves upon earlier pay-by-cell phone systems by including an on-dash display module for enforcement vehicles that alerts officers to compliance. The on-dash display is essential to the system's operation as no paper receipt to verify payment for parking spaces is given. The system records all transactions real-time so officers are ensured reliability of the information provided them. If a customer would like to renew their space, another phone call may be made, resulting in a new display time appearing in the vehicle to be renewed. No equipment purchase by municipalities is required for the system, which, the author explains, makes it an attractive choice for those cities with a restrictive budget.