Parking Meters Accept Pay-by-phone

Parking Meters Accept Pay-by-phone

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Your cell phone is smarter than you thought. Now you can use your cell phone to pay parking when you dont have change. This trend is sweeping the US. This month alone San Francisco, CA, Akron, OH, Silver Spring, MD, Miami, FL, and Montclair, NJ have all announced pay-by-phone parking meters this month. Of course in Europe Paris and London have pay-by-phone parking as well. Now theres no excuse for getting a parking ticket.

The methods of payment vary by area. Some of the companies providing the pay-by-phone service are ParkNOW, PayByPhone, Luke II, MyRingGo, EasyPark, and ParkMobile. It is as simple as calling a phone number and giving your credit card information. For those people with Smartphones, there are apps for the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry owners. According to an article by Adam Beam, TheState.com, the payment company charges a small fee for using the service, which is in addition to the parking fee. These fees are usually 25-35 cents per transaction. Here are the steps it takes to pay-by-phone in Columbia, SC, as outlined by Adam Beam:

Step 1: Drivers would dial a phone number listed on the parking meter. First-time users would need to set up an account through a computer

Step 2: Drivers then tell the computer how long they will be parked. Some spaces wont allow parking for more than a certain amount of time.

Step 3: The computer will charge the credit or debit card, plus 35 cents. The city gets the parking fee; the company keeps the 35 cents.

Drivers who dont know how long theyll be parked have another option to call when they arrive, then call back when they leave. The only problem is if drivers forget to call when they leave, the meter keeps running. But the money will be refunded if drivers can prove they werent parked for that long. Customers with a Smartphone, like an iPhone, Android or Blackberry, dont have to call at all. Instead, they can use an app on their phone to check-in to their parking space an app that in the future could use GPS to point drivers to the nearest available parking spot.
Parking enforcement officers have handheld computers to run license plates, to see whether youve paid.

I especially like the feature that will point you to the nearest available parking spot. How cool is that? Its like having a parking angel in your phone. Another great feature is that you can have the option of being notified 10 minutes before your meter runs out so you can add money to the meter. So there really is no excuse for getting a parking ticket!

About the Author:
Technewscorner.com is provided by batteries4less.com, the leading online retailer of cell phone batteries, camera replacement batteries, HTC EVO Battery, chargers and mobile accessories.



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