Mobile-Payments Providers Add More Spaces for Smart-Phone Parking

Mobile solutions for parking payments received a boost last week with the citywide launch of Parkmobile USA Inc.’s service in Birmingham, Mich., and the addition of new features to QuickPay Corp.’s mobile-payment service for a major parking company in San Francisco.

In Birmingham, drivers can now use Parkmobile’s mobile applications for the iPhone, Android, Windows 7, and BlackBerry smart phones to pay for parking. Birmingham, a Detroit suburb, is the sixth city in the state to offer Parkmobile, following Ferndale, Dearborn, Grand Rapids, Petoskey, and South Haven. Parkmobile also is offered in 250 cities worldwide.

To use the Parkmobile system, customers register for free at parkmobile.com, entering a credit card or debit card account number for payment. Each time a driver starts a parking transaction the credit card on file will be charged, says Tina Dyer, marketing manager for Atlanta-based Parkmobile USA.

Once customers register, they can use the mobile app, the Internet, and a QR (quick response) code on their smart phone or a toll-free number to pay for parking. In Birmingham, users must enter a zone number posted on individual meters into the app, Dyer says. After setting up the account, they can start using the system with their registered mobile device. They can also select the option to receive text-message alerts and reminders.

Parkmobile typically charges a small per-transaction convenience fee to the parker, but the city of Birmingham currently is waiving the fee, Dyer says. The city is promoting the program by automatically entering residents who use Parkmobile between Aug. 14 and Dec. 15 into a drawing to win free parking for 2013 at all Birmingham street meters and metered spaces at select parking lots.

In San Francisco, QuickPay is working with Douglas Parking to deploy new payment options and value-added services, such as premium parking spaces and loyalty programs, across its parking locations. Customers can pay for parking with mobile phones using the free QuickPay smart-phone applications for iPhone and Android, or by short-message service (SMS) text or voice.

Douglas Parking in 2010 introduced the QuickPay mobile-payment service at its Oakland, Calif., parking locations and later expanded it to most of its Bay Area locations, including off-street, gated, ungated, attended, unattended, and off-airport facilities. It also offered the service in Denver and Las Vegas. QuickPay is now available at about 60 Douglas Parking facilities in eight cities.

Under the expanded service now available in San Francisco, Douglas Parking will reserve premier parking spaces in select lots for patrons who pay with QP QuickPay and will soon launch a loyalty program enabled by the QuickPay system.

The QP QuickPay app, available through Apple Inc.’s App Store and Google Play for Android, uses geo-location technology to help users find the nearest QuickPay-enabled parking facility. The app also gives directions and lists parking rates, says Barney Pell, chief executive of Menlo Park, Calif.-based QuickPay, by e-mail.

Once the customer arrives at the lot or garage, the QuickPay app recognizes the location and allows users to confirm parking with one touch. At gated garages, the user scans a QR code at the garage entry and the gate will open. For attended parking, the app shows proof of payment to the valet. The app enters the vehicle’s license plate and the lot’s rates and charges the correct amount to the credit or debit card assigned to the app by the user. When leaving the facility, users can scan the QR code to complete and verify the payment or tell the app they’re done parking. Users receive receipts by e-mail and can manage their account histories online or in the app.

QuickPay charges a convenience fee per transaction. “Operators either pay for this or they pass the fee along to consumers,” Pell says. “Many operators cover the fees to encourage loyalty from high-value users/repeat parkers.” Fees generally range from 35 cents to $1.

Mobile payments offer parking providers a way of differentiating their operations from competitors, says David Kaminsky, an analyst at Mercator Advisory Group, Maynard, Mass. “Mobile payment definitely lends itself to parking,” says Kaminsky, adding that he’s seeing more parking garages offering a mobile-payment service.

“It’s much more convenient than having to make sure you have cash or remembering to pay for your parking ticket before you get in your car [and] being the person at the gate holding everybody up because you forgot to pay,” he says.