Parking Division Nearing Completion of IPS Installation and Launches New Mobile Pay Option

The Parking Division saw a busy end to 2020 and productive beginning for 2021. Over the past several months, staff has been busy removing and replacing nearly all of the on-street pay stations and number markers. New IPS single-space “smart” meters, the same ones that were introduced in mid-2019, are now located in each of those spaces. These solar powered meters allow for a greater variety of payment options for users, accepting coin, Visa and MasterCard.

Additionally, after months of collaboration with several City agencies, a new pay-by-cell option is ready for launch. The new application will replace the MobileNow pay-by-cell app that went out-of-business mid 2020 due to the pandemic.

“The Parking Division is excited to present a new payment application to the public that offers more flexibility for meter use citywide,” states Sabrina Tolley, Parking Division Assistant Manager. “The Park Smarter app was developed to offer a convenient service to parkers that corrects some limitations of the previous mobile payment provider”

The Park Smarter mobile application, available for most mobile smart devices, allows for contact-less parking payments for all of the City of Madison’s on-street meters. Park Smarter is usable at many off-street meters as well, including coin only motorcycle meters in garages. This 3rd party application is easy to use, allows for users to set up their own account to track parking history and request receipts sent directly to their email.

Additional mobile pay application features:

• Visa and MasterCard payments are accepted with no user fee to pay-by-cell.
• The user can pay as they go and will not need to set up a “wallet” pre-payment.
• The application facilitates payment at all of the following City of Madison meters:
  • All on-street IPS “smart” meters and the remainder of the on-street pay stations until their replacement is complete.
  • Off-street IPS and coin only meters.
  • Off-street pay stations excluding Evergreen Lot and Wingra Lot.
• The app will inform you of your space numbers time limits, restrictions and cost prior to purchase.
• You can add time to your meter, up to the maximum time limit allowed.
• Though payment will not be visible on the meter when paying by the mobile app, Parking Enforcement has the ability to look up mobile payments.
• Receipts for all credit card transactions can be accessed at myparkingreceipts.com

If you are looking for a map of city owned on-street meters, that information is available at the Parking Division’s Parking Meters webpage.
To read the May 15, 2019 News release regarding the replacement of the coin-only meters: https://www.cityofmadison.com/news/smart-parking-meters-now-city-wide

Links

• Parking Division Meter Information
• IPS "smart" Meter Website
• Park Smarter Website

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