NEW ROCHELLE, NY — I have to admit that I did not like the new parking system rolled out a few months ago. It was confusing and the machines downright intimidating. Even after I figured it out there was the issue of people ahead of me trying to figure out the darn machines. The worst was a couple of days ago when it was raining hard and a woman stood under umbrella for what seemed like ten minutes fiddling with the parking machine at City Hall. I did not have an umbrella and got soaked.
I went to lunch the other day at the Mexican Corner Restaurant. I decided to park at the library lot near Lawton Street. There used to be a parking meter machine there but it was gone. On the wall nearby I saw a green sign with a 4-digit zone number. Seated in my car looking at the sign, I kicked around the idea of downloading and installing the Parkmobile app.
After a few fails trying to get it to accept my credit card number, I set up an account. I then entered the zone number from the sign on the wall, entered my license plate number and paid. A scere came up with a countdown clock on it. There was an extra 35 cent fee. It was a bit of a hassle to get started and I did not like the extra fee but I figured I would try to keep an open mind.
As I ordered lunch, I saw I had an email confirming that my parking session had begun. I liked that. Even better I could use the app to extend the time if lunch ran late (it didn’t). The app has some cool features in it like a Find My Car app and the countdown time for each session. I also noticed there are many other Parkmobile lots in nearby towns like Mamaroneck and White Plains (with more to come?)
That was my first experience using the ParkMobile app. Since then I have grown increasingly fond of the app. The kicker was yesterday when I had a meeting at City Hall. As I walked from my car I saw two people waiting to use the parking machine. Rather than bother with that, I opened the app, keyed in the zone and with my license plate and credit card already stored was able to pay for the parking in seconds while bypassing the machine entirely. That I liked!
Of course, no one likes to pay for parking and certainly no one wants extra fees on top of that but overall the simplicity of using the app and bypassing the machine makes the app worth it to me. Over time I will “lose” money because there is no “free riding” with this system when the spot has been paid for by the previous parker and I slide into the spot with time still on the meter.
My favorite feature of the app is the “15 minute Reminder” which will send you an email or text message to alert you that your parking session will expire soon.
This will definitely help me SAVE money by avoiding parking tickets. Just avoiding one parking ticket at $25 a pop means that the app more than pays for itself despite the transaction fee and the loss of “free riding”.
The new system is largely the work of Development Commissioner Luis Aragon so I asked him a few questions:
Q. Why did you switch from traditional metered parking to the new system? How does it benefit the City? The consumer?
“The Pay by Plate system allows the public to pay with ease while allowing the City to enforce the rules and regulations in a more efficient manner.”
Q. How critical is adoption of the parking app to acceptance of the new system?
“The app is critical but difficult to get used to. Customers are slowly getting comfortable with the concept and beginning to utilize it more fully.”
Q. Anything else we should know?
“This is the beginning of a larger parking management plan. We hope to expand the use of up-to-date technology to on street parking in the near future.”
I think Talk of the Sound readers know that if the app was garbage and the new parking system a fiasco I would not hesitate to say so. I do think that if, like me, you were not using the app at all and just going to the machines directly then trying to fiddle with a confusing array of buttons you might strongly dislike the new system. I know I did at first.
If you download and set up the app on your iPhone or Android phone, I expect that like me you will find the new system a vast improvement over anything that came before (no quarters!!!). You might even learn to love parking in New Rochelle (OK, let’s not get carried away!)
With all that said, I am sure some folks will complain that they do not have a smartphone or don’t want to pay a transaction fee or don’t want to use an app. Fine, the machine is still there and they work. You just have to accept that you are not going to get the optimal parking experience without the app. We all make choices and not having a smartphone or not using the app is certainly one folks can make. It’s just not the best choice.
Get the Parkmobile App here.