Paying for street parking from your smart phone will soon be an option in the city of Syracuse. Public Works Commissioner Pete O'Connor says the option to pay by phone will be available once meter readers get new hand-held devices they use to scan cars parked on city streets.
“On the app, there will be a map. You’ll punch in what block you’re in. The meter will pop up for that block, you punch in what time you want, what credit card you want, and your license plate number. That’s it.”
Parkeon, the company that handles the parking technology, charges 35 cents for the convenience of using your phone, calling it standard for these kinds of apps.
The commissioner says the parking pay stations that dole out stickers will still be around, but this app, called WHOOSH, creates another option for meter readers who are checking vehicles parked on the street.
"If there’s a sticker on the dashboard, if every thing's okay, they’ll move along. If there’s no sticker on the dashboard, they’ll already be on the website. They will punch in the license plate number of that vehicle, a screen will come up and say that vehicle is parked at such and such an address, and their time expires at X,” said O'Connor.
People would be able to add time to their meter from the app as well, but O'Connor says the city has to figure out how much time they’ll allow.
O'Connor expects the technology to be up and running sometime in July.
