Smartphone app offers a way to pay for parking, even far away

A new app allows motorists to pay at some Green P outdoor lots on their own device - and even top up their time remotely.

Thestar.com
March 5, 2015
By David Rider

People who pay for all kinds of things with their smartphones can now add to that list parking in Toronto’s outdoor Green P lots.

The city-owned Toronto Parking Authority has unveiled a free app that, by the end of spring, drivers will be able to use to pay for parking at all outdoor Green P lots currently using “pay and display” machines.

A bonus for forgetful motorists is that the app will sound an alert when their parking is about to expire, allowing them to add time remotely to the virtual meter, wherever they are.

The credit-card-based system will be available at all Green P outdoor lots by early 2016, TPA president Lorne Persiko told reporters Thursday at city hall. There are no plans at this point to expand the service to gated Green P indoor lots.

TPA will soon add 20 lots per week to the system, putting up signs to inform users. But the app already works for outdoor lots at: 13 Isabella St.; 35 Erindale Ave.; 87 Richmond St. E.; 44 Parliament St.; and 271 Front St. E.

Mayor John Tory said that when it comes to customer-friendly technology, “the city has been sort of frozen in time,” and he is determined to change that.

“People do have a right to deserve better than what they’ve been getting over the last number of years, for the taxes they pay,” said Tory, who demonstrated the app.

The mayor said he is pushing all divisions to modernize, adding it doesn’t make sense that Torontonians can track requested library books online but, if their pipes are frozen, can’t learn when a city crew will arrive to help them.

The app is available for iPhone and Android devices. There is a mobile site, parkgreenp.com, for BlackBerrys and other devices.

Mobile payment will cost TPA about $500,000 per year in transaction fees paid to co-developer North Carolina-based Passport Inc. But TPA’s cost per transaction will be cheaper than if the motorists were using pay-and-display machines, which will remain in all the lots for those who choose to use them.

Mobile users can find the app at greenp.com, or from a desktop computer mobilepay.greenp.com. They will need to set up an account and provide licence plate and credit card information.

Toronto is behind other Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary and Ottawa, in offering the technology. Persiko said TPA recognized the problems some cities were having, including low participation, and wanted to avoid them altogether.

Other app features are coming, he added, including the ability for merchants to pay for customers’ parking.