Mayor Walsh extends partnership with TicketZen
Today Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced that the City of Boston has extended its partnership with TicketZen for one year, following a successful three month trial period. During that time over 5,000 individuals used the mobile-based parking ticket payment app to pay more than 7,000 tickets – a total of nearly $250,000 in revenue. This project of the Boston Transportation Department (BTD), the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM), and Boston-based TicketZen, Inc., is one of many steps being taken by the City to improve customer service delivery for Boston residents.
“The numbers show brisk demand for this service,” said Mayor Walsh. “Thanks to a common sense innovative solution, paying a parking ticket is a little bit easier to take care of. I’m thrilled that the City is able to partner with the homegrown talent at TicketZen to get this done.”
"BTD's Office of the Parking Clerk accepts parking ticket payments by mail, by phone and by web. We are pleased to partner with TicketZen, Inc., to further improve customer service by providing yet another option for making the task of paying a parking ticket as convenient for Boston drivers as possible," said Boston Transportation Department Commissioner James E. Gillooly.
"TicketZen has seen strong citizen adoption throughout our pilot program with the City of Boston. Thousands of Boston citizens have used TicketZen to pay for their parking violations and over 50% of those people have used TicketZen more than once. As one of our pioneer partners, the City of Boston has demonstrated a commitment to mobile innovation, benefiting the city and its citizens. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Boston to make paying for parking tickets a stress-less experience," said Ryan Neu, TicketZen Co-Founder.
TicketZen, a smart phone app available for both Android and Apple devices, utilizes the smart phone camera to scan the bar code on a parking ticket and connect the user’s payment details with the City of Boston’s payment network. The app provides a smoother user experience than navigating to the City’s parking ticket payment website from a mobile phone. In addition, by prompting users to make timely payments, it helps them to avoid late fees that are routinely added to the original fine after 21 days. During the 3-month pilot period, more than one quarter of tickets paid through the app were paid in three days or less.
A reference to TicketZen is featured at the bottom of every computer-generated parking ticket issued by the Boston Transportation Department to guide those with parking tickets through this new option for making payments. The TicketZenservice will be provided at no cost to Boston users beyond the standard credit card processing fee associated with the City’s payment portal.
Since the Boston launch of TicketZen, the product has been implemented in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC, Cambridge, Somerville, New York, State College, and Nottingham, United Kingdom.
The City of Boston continues to innovate to make government processes more accessible through digital channels. Recent efforts include: HubHacks, a civic-minded Hackathon to reinvent the City’s online permitting experience; the installation of digital kiosks at several agencies across the City to connect constituents within two business days to City of Boston business development specialists; and the expansion of Wicked Free WiFi, providing free wireless internet across Boston’s Main Street districts.
Smart phone users with questions or comments about the app are encouraged to contact the Mayor’s Hotline at 617-635-4500.
