Canada.com reports that Vancouver, Canada has come up with a very convenient way for citizens to pay parking meter fees. Canadians can now make payments with their cell phone according to the article.
It is being provided under contract to Verrus Mobile Technologies, a Vancouver company that has already signed up commercial parking lots and cities in Canada, the U.S. and Britain.
Verrus gets paid through a 30-cent surcharge paid by the driver, which it calls a convenience fee, on each parking transaction using the service.
The approximately 8,000 city meters are not changing except for new decals with a meter number on them. All Vancouver meters will have decals within a few weeks.
Motorists can call a city phone number, provide the number of the meter and order exactly as much time as they need, up to the normal limit of the meter. That means no more plugging a dollar or two into the meter when you intend to stay only 15 minutes but you're short of exact change.
The city of Vancouver has established a website for the service here. This sounds like a very convenient way to pay for the parking meter -- much easier then carrying change around. Hopefully this will be available in U.S. cities soon if it isn't already.
