Seattle will soon become the third US city to adopt a pay by phone parking system for its city streets. According to a report in the Puget Sound Business Journal, the city is contracting with Canadian company PayByPhone to offer the new mobile payment service for its residents.
Instead of fishing for coins to drop into a meter, residents who sign up for the service can pay for on-street parking using their mobile phone at a PayByPhone kiosk. In some implementations, the system will use NFC or QR codes to detect your location and start the time on your parking meter. When your meter is about to expire, the system will alert you via a text message and even let you extend your time right from your phone.
PayByPhone operates the service in several cities including Vancouver, B.C.; London, England; Ottawa, Ontario; Miami, Florida and San Francisco, California. It will be coming to Seattle’s 13,000 on-street parking spaces sometime this fall.