City officials have announced the launch of a mobile app that could simplify downtown parking options, albeit at a little extra cost.
Park Tucson this week introduced GoTucson, an app that will allow drivers to pay for on-street downtown, university area and Fourth Avenue parking using smartphones and other mobile devices.
“The app communicates to the meters,” Park-Tucson Administrator Donovan Durband said.
By downloading the app, users can log in after parking, tell the app where they are and pay for the amount of time needed.
The app also allows users to remotely add more time to a parking meter.
Durband said the app affords drivers the convenience of not having to carry change around or rushing back to a parking spot to feed the meter.
“You pay a little more to get more piece of mind,” he said.
The little more is a 25-cent service fee per transaction that goes to Passport, a North Carolina-based company that developed the mobile app.
While the new system is just making its debut, the early reviews are positive.
“That’s good because people now are using their credit cards for everything,” said Marco Ramos, supervisor at Tucson Olive Central at 222 E. Congress St., a downtown store specializing in olive oil products.
Ramos said people often come into the store asking for change for parking meters. He said he also frequently sees cars being towed from downtown parking spaces.
From his own experience, Ramos said he likes the idea of paying for parking remotely.
Recently, he received a parking ticket downtown. Ramos said he knew his time was running out and hurried to get back to his space.
But he was too late, a parking enforcement official was putting the ticket on his windshield as he drew closer to his car.
“I told the guy I was coming to put money in the meter,” Ramos said.
It didn’t matter, the parking enforcement officer told him — time had run out.
Tourism officials see the new technology as positive development for the downtown and university areas.
“Especially for visitors, they want to get to places more easily,” Dan Gibson, director of corporate communication for Visit Tucson said.
Gibson said the new remote-pay technology makes sense in a society that relies less on cash and increasingly pays with debit or credit cards or using mobile devices.
The GoTucson app is part of larger modernization plan for downtown-area on-street parking.
The city recently began installing upgraded “smart meters” downtown and along University Boulevard in Main Gate Square. Fourth Avenue will begin to get the meters in February.
Those meters allow users to pay with cash, credit card or prepaid parking cards.
The new meters communicate directly with the GoTucson mobile app, through which users also can use a prepaid option.
Durband said there are three ways to use the new mobile app.
Users can pay directly through the app for parking, use the company’s website (gotucsonapp.com) or by calling (520) 441-3752.
Users of the GoTucson soon will be able to purchase transit tickets for Sun Tran and Sun Link streetcar as well.
The app also can be used to pay for parking at old, non-digital parking meters.
Durband said all the parking meters downtown, at Main Gate and on Fourth Avenue will be marked with an area code and space number. App users enter that information in the app to pay for their parking space.
The only difference will be the old meters won’t display the time the user purchased. Durband said that information is available to parking enforcement officials who would check to see if the space has been paid for before issuing a ticket.
While the app is operational, Durband said Park Tucson workers have just begun the process of labeling the slightly more than 500 meters that have been installed.
The city plans to have all 1,500 meters installed over the next few months.
The smart meters cost $472 each and were purchased using Park Tucson’s existing funds.
Durband said the department operates as a self-sustaining entity that doesn’t require tax money to fund.
