The City of Phoenix in Arizona is launching a new smartphone-based parking location and payment system. Nearly all of the city’s 2,000 metered street parking spots will be equipped with the system, which allows users find and pay for parking using their smartphones. The Phoenix Street Transportation Department will use a cellphone payment application that has been delivered through a partnership with Pango Mobile Parking. The smartphone app also allows users to track where they parked have parked their vehicle and find additional parking spaces in the area. Users will also be able to add more time to their parking meters once they have left their cars, helping reduce parking tickets for expired meters. Businesses will also be able to give customers prepaid codes to validate parking.
To use Pango, drivers park their cars, open the app and choose the specific zone number posted on the meter. User accounts are tied to their credit card numbers. The app payment system will add to the city’s existing system that accepts credit cards, debit cards and coins. City of Phoenix spokeswoman, Monica Hernandez, said, “It’s a mechanism we’re putting in place to make life easier. Drivers can also opt to receive a text message 15 minutes before the meter expires and can add more time remotely using their phones, although posted time limits still apply. Parking under the new app will primarily be found in downtown and uptown Phoenix, as well as near the state Capitol.”
Pango is an Israel-based company that launched the world’s first pay-by-cell phone parking service. The company already has a presence in Phoenix, as, in 2013, it partnered with Red Development’s CityScape, a 1.1 million-square-foot mixed-use urban project with 50 retailers, commercial office towers, and the five-star Polomar Hotel. Using the app, patrons to CityScape can pay for parking, open and close garage gates, validate their parking from retailers, and receive special offers from local businesses. Pango has also been implemented with the American Valet garage system in downtown Phoenix.
