City of Boston announces ParkBoston app live through additional neighborhoods
The City of Boston today announced that the ParkBoston app is now live through Back Bay, Fenway/Kenmore, Downtown, Beacon Hill, the North End, the West End and Charlestown, and will be active in South Boston, the South End, Mission Hill, Allston and Brighton by the end of the summer. The app allows drivers to quickly and easily remotely pay a meter with their mobile phone, avoiding the hassle of finding quarters or running back to the meter to add more time before it expires.
"The ParkBoston app is one of the many ways we're making city government more efficient and effective for Boston's residents and visitors," said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. "More and more of our drivers are taking advantage of ParkBoston and we're excited to be able to expand into even more neighborhoods by the end of the summer."
Earlier this year, following a successful pilot in a portion of the Back Bay, Mayor Walsh announced that the City's over 8,000 metered spaces will be outfitted with the ParkBoston app. During the pilot, the Boston Transportation Department has worked closely with Passport, an industry leader in mobile payments, to design a smooth and seamless parking experience for users. Over the last month, there has been a steady increase in daily transactions through the app, from 3,000 per day in late June to over 4,000 per day by mid-July.
"ParkBoston provides an innovative, convenient alternative to paying meters with currency," said Boston Transportation Department Commissioner Gina Fiandaca. "As parking meters throughout the City are being adjusted to accept this advanced technology, I encourage drivers to download the app and take advantage of this new option that helps to make parking on Boston's local streets a quicker and easier experience."
Both ParkBoston decals applied to parking meters and on-street signage will let drivers know where the new service is in effect. ParkBoston payment will become an available option for parkers as soon as the signs and decals are installed on each block.
Earlier this year, Mayor Walsh announced that the Boston Transportation Department would be seeking to upgrade all parking meters to new intelligent devices. The ParkBoston app and new smart meters will work together to provide the City with parking data to manage the space at the curb more effectively. It will also provide users with a wide variety of choices in payment from smartphones to credit cards to coins.
Smartphone users can take advantage of the new service by going to park.boston.gov to create an account. iPhone and Android users can also get the free ParkBoston app through the App Store or Google Play. A pay-by-voice option is also available for those without web-enabled phones. To learn more, please visit park.boston.gov.
The pilot phase of Park Boston was supported by the Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, Mayor Walsh's civic innovation team. Identifying and implementing ways to improveBoston's streetscape for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers is one of the office's core areas of focus. Recent collaborations with the Boston Transportation Department have included the TicketZen app to make it easier to pay parking tickets, a data partnership with Waze to improve traffic flow, and vehicle sideguards pilot that led to the a nation-leading safety ordinance for large vehicles performing city contracts.
