Patrons in downtown Timmins will soon be able to pay for parking with just a few swipes on a smartphone.
This summer, pay-by-phone parking will be installed at all downtown meters in Timmins, the first community in Northern Ontario to adopt the technology.
Noella Rinaldo, executive director of the Downtown Timmins BIA, said the technology “revolutionizes” parking downtown, addressing common problems faced by many cities.
“There are two things we hear about from clients when it comes to parking,” she said. “They don’t have money anymore — people don’t carry around cash in their pockets — and when they’re shopping they have to go back to the meter to put money in.”
With pay-by-phone parking, all meters in the downtown will be numbered. People download an app onto their smartphone, enter the number of the meter where they’ve parked, and put money into their account to cover the time they’ll be using the space.
Clients get a warning from the app once their time is about to expire, which allows them to either return to their vehicle, or add money to the meter without actually returning to the parking spot.
Rinaldo said patrons will benefit because they don’t have to run back to the meter, leaving before they’re ready.
But businesses should benefit as well, because shoppers will feel less rushed.
“If they’re shopping and their parking is going to expire, rather than a client having to leave, businesses can give them a gift card, they punch the number into their phone, and it tops up their parking so they don’t get a ticket,” Rinaldo said.
There is no cost to the municipality for the service, and a third party comes in to set up the program and train enforcement officers on its use.
Patrons pay a minimal fee to use the service, and for those who aren’t yet smartphone-savvy, the meters will still accept coins.
Five new parking meters were recently added to Balsam Street, following the removal of a traffic light, giving patrons more options, Rinaldo said.
But there is still work to be done in educating patrons about parking at lots throughout the downtown, something shoppers are still reluctant to do.
“There’s a perception that when you can’t find a parking space in front of the business you want to do business with, there’s no parking,” she said.
“Well, there’s lots of parking; you’ve just got to go park in the parking lot one block away.”
The system also helps the efficiency of the parking enforcement officers, because they can tell on their phones which meters are being used and when they’ll expire. After a year in use, Rinaldo expects the progam to yield some valuable statistics.
“A lot of Northern Ontario towns watching to see how this works,” she said. “We’re the guinea pigs.”
