Users of some Chicago Transit Authority parking lots can pay for parking with their mobile phones. But it will cost them an extra 35 cents.
The CTA’s parking contractor, Nashville, Tenn.-based Central Parking System, made available in March a free phone application from cashless-payment provider Parkmobile USA Inc. The service allows commuters to use the app to pay for parking at 14 of the agency’s 17 parking lots.
“Our goal is to make things easier for our riders, so knowing there are a lot more smartphones out there gives people the advantage of not having to worry about having cash on them,” CTA spokesperson Lambrini Lukidis tells PaymentsSource.
Commuters must register for the app at Atlanta-based Parkmobile’s website and provide the license plate number of the car they park and their credit or debit card information. They then can download the app to their iPhone, Android, Windows 7 or Blackberry device.
When the commuter parks his car, he logs in to the application, enters a location code and parking space number, chooses and enters a parking duration, confirms the transaction total–including the 35-cent transaction fee–and finishes the process.
The process takes 15 seconds, and the transaction fee is Parkmobile’s revenue, Tina Dyers, Parkmobile marketing and sales support manager, tells PaymentsSource.
Users can sign up for text-messaging or email alerts so Parkmobile can let them know that their parking period is 15 minutes from expiring. At that time, the consumer can use the application to pay for more time or return to the lot.
Handheld devices carried by Central Parking System enforcement staff members are integrated with Parkmobile so they can see Parkmobile user license plates and match them with completed transactions, says Dyer.
Users who do not wish to share their financial information online can register with Parkmobile and call the company to pay instead of use the application, Lukidis says.
The name of the bank acquiring the transactions was not immediately available.
The Parkmobile system provides partner agencies with separate accounting so they can see how many transactions come through the application, Dyer says. The transit agency does not pay extra for Parkmobile.
Parkmobile also works with the Metra Chicago area train service and transit agencies in Boston, Denver and New York, and soon in Washington, D.C., Dyer says.
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