City explores paying for parking by phone
Posted September 23, 2011 12:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Paying for parking at one of the city’s thousands of metered spots could in time be as easy as making a phone call.
On Wednesday, city hall passed a motion by Coun. Karen Stintz, who is calling for a report on the feasibility of cell phone payment in Toronto.
In other cities where the system is in place, drivers pre-register and, once they’ve parked, call the phone number on the meter, log in and pay for the required amount of time. They can then top up, but the city’s three-hour limit will likely still apply.
Information about the parked vehicle then appears on the handheld units parking enforcement officers use, and they are able to monitor how much time is left.
In Toronto’s case, the officers might be able to use licence plates to track the vehicle in a database.
A spokesman for the Toronto Parking Authority told CityNews.ca the agency has been studying the option for more than a year and is looking at the possibility of using a private company or setting up the system in house.
Cellphone payment already exists in Canadian cities like Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg, as well as in Europe and the United States.
