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Top off Your Parking Meter with a Cell Call
dstone writes "Vancouver, Canada has just become the first major city in North America to allow motorists to feed their parking meters with their cell phone. Drivers call a number on each meter, the system recognizes them by Caller ID, they enter how many minutes they want, and that's it. The system sends them a reminder text message before their time is up and they can extend their time remotely. The catch? The company contracted to provide the service, Verrus, makes their money through a 30-cent 'convenience fee.' Less pockets full of change, less parking tickets, seems like a step forward."
So do you trade parking meter stickers with Lexus guy then?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
If,
I'm not way off-track one of the purposes of a parking meter is the annoyance feature. Keeps a set of rich guys from pumping quarters in it all day long without any negative consequences for them.
This tech enables that sort of behavior.
And then the poor slobs get to walk a half a mile just to get to the courthouse.....
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So does this mean that every city in Canada will be able to use a different service provider?
While it would be feasible to maintain an account with several providers in different cities, it seems like a government-sponsered portal would make more sense than required accounts to be created directly on the company site. Maybe this won't be an issue since most of one's parking would be in one city; just a thought.
zachwalker.net
Very true. I would be happy to pay the extra 30 cents for the convenience of not having to look for change. I never have change on me. Now what I would really like is for vending machines to take debit cards because once again I never have change on me. I am all about convenience which is the reason I pay an extra dollar for milk from Walgreens instead of going to the grocery store.
"Anything tastes good if you deep fry it."
I remember the first time (too many years back, now) that I experienced Convenience while I was in line at a McDonalds grabbing a burger on my way someplace. I told the cashier I wanted a Diet Coke as my combo drink. She handed me the now-expected empty cup and told me that I would be getting the drink from the "Convenience Center" across the store.
"Convenient for who?" I asked. And she told me, unblinkingly, that it had in fact really made their job a lot easier.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Granted, there are some instances when this would be nice, but I think most people would use it because they are just plan lazy. Convenience, less exercise, and more food has made this nation very plump.
Also, why would a city want to risk losing that much revenue from all those tickets?
To use a washer, text the word "SLUG" to 91111.
Why the scare quotes around convenience fees? Is the submitter implying that the cell phone company should graciously provide this service for free? Or perhaps the fee isn't really a fee?
Either way, editorializing in the summary is silly.
This scheme seems like a bullshit technological antisolution that would only make the current street parking situation worse,
1) It bills to your credit card
2) I don't have a credit card
3) I don't like The Man tracking my activities, right down to where and when I park
Just a thought.
Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
We in the old world have been having this system for about 2 years now.
Without convenience fee.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
http://www.usj.com.my/usjXpress/details.php3?table =usjXpress&ID=256
I travel there on business from time to time, folks that I work with there have been doing something like this using SMS for a while now.
It is good to see the US catching up.
Wellington, NZ implemented this a while back. I knew one of the IT guys involved. They were happy to get paid for doing the work, but they were sure it wouldn't be a success. After all, who would pay extra for this? Much to his surprise, it's been very successful.
Verrus operate a similar system at the council car parks in York, England. It's great - finding the change was always a pain!
:)
They get the number of your cell phone from caller ID and store your vehicle registration plate and credit card details against it the first time you call. The next time you call you just tell it how many hours you want and enter the 4 digit code for the car park you are using. For an extra 10p you can get a reminder SMS. You are also free to call again and extend the parking.
If you don't have your cell phone with you then you can use any phone, and just tap in your cell number and the PIN number you set the first time you called. You also use that PIN if you want to change credit card or vehicle registration numbers.
The wardens have machines that have details of the electronically issued tickets on them, so they don't clamp you
I do believe this will completely change the parking scene in Vancouver. Anyone who has been downtown and tried to park there knows it is impossible. This means that now, for sure, anyone who gets there first will be there all day. Previously spaces opened up due to people running out of change and leaving or people getting towed. This would also be a good method of topping up at the various Impark parking lots in Calgary and Edmonton. I almost always underestimate the time I need, I think everyone does.
Of course, Impark won't do this since it makes more money giving tickets than selling parking space. They are vultures! The ticket is already written up by the time you have 1-minute left, just in case.
The article explains this is the first major city in North America to do this. Not to mention this is in CANADA. I think you have Canada confused with the United States with your comment.
All my calls come from (202) 456-1414
If you think imaginary property and real property are the same, when does your house become public domain?
The Man probably doesn't care about temporary parking vs. garage parking. If anything, the Man will encourage more use of temporary (aka parking meter) parking. Meters, when in use, make more money than parking garages. If the Man can keep the metered spaces full, it means more money for governmental projects.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
We've got something similar in some areas of Saskatoon, Canada. It's more like a preloaded parking card though.
You swipe your card, meter deducts money from the card equal to the cost of the max amount of time you can park there. When you come back, you swipe again and the meter refunds the unused amount.
What if I spoof my caller ID, which is relatively easy to do? Will I be able to charge all my parking fees to my coworker's/neighbor's/friend's/stranger's phone bill? Unless they have cameras at each parking meter recording the license plate numbers of cars parked there, how will they track me down before the victim receives their cell phone bill for the month?
Also, can I do a "chargeback"? What if I charge up my phone bill with parking fees, and dispute the charges at the end of the month?
We have had TXT-a-Park for a while here in NZ - http://www.vodafone.co.nz/promos/txt-a-park/txt_a_ park.jsp?item=txt_a_park
They charge a 50c transaction fee which is pretty steep, especially when you are only paying $3.50 for the actual parking. Having the system txt you when your parking is almost up and email receipts is a great idea which I wish they would implement here.
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Croatia have that "feature" for years! In almost all towns in Croatia you can pay your parking with cell phone.
Vlatko Kosturjak - Kost
...many places you can swipe your credit card when you leave your car, and swipe it again when you come back. Very convenient. Alternatively, you can pay with coins.