Municipal parking is now e-commerce enabled in London.
The City of London has partnered with HonkMobile to offer another option to pay for on-street and municipal parking lot locations.
“I’ve been involved in electronic payment since about 2001,” HonkMobile founder and CEO Michael Back explained.
“When I looked at parking, it was a transaction that was kind of stuck in the dark ages: had to stand in the freezing cold, I couldn’t find it, didn’t know how much it cost. It was kind of one of the only things out there that wasn’t e-commerce enabled so I felt there had to be a better way.”
Using the Honk app, residents and visitors can search, pay for, and top up parking without having to go back to the physical spot.
“Whether you are driving downtown for an event at Budweiser Gardens, visiting our unique shops or eating at our excellent restaurants, HonkMobile will make finding parking, and paying for it, more convenient,” said Mayor Matt Brown.
The app is already accepted at over 600 locations and 50,000 parking spaces across North America. Back, a Western University graduate, says the app allows you to set up an account with licence plate information and payment information and also includes a pay-in-advance feature.
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“We came down from Toronto late last night and stayed in a hotel around the corner and parked at this parking lot,” Back used as an example.
“Parking’s free overnight and starts at 8 o’clock in the morning so last night before I went to bed – instead of waking up early – I was able to buy parking at 8 o’clock in the morning so that if someone were to come by before this press conference the car was paid for and I didn’t have to get out of bed and do it.”
A reserve feature will be coming later to allow people to reserve a spot in advance at off-street parking lots or parkades.
“You actually reserve a spot: so if there’s 100 spots in the lot and you reserve one they only sell 99 to the general public.”
Coin operated parking meters and Pay and Display meters will continue to be available.
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