Pay by phone makes paying for parking much easier

Yesterday, I relayed a story of government at its most baffling: a myriad of overlapping or contradictory forms just to pay $90 in unemploy­ment insurance. On the opposite end of the spectrum, one government service has become amazingly simple and easy to pay for: parking.

All parking meters in the District support pay by phone, and it couldn’t be easier. Parkmobile, the vendor, offers native apps for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. Once you sign up, all you have to do is see the number written in huge numerals on a sign near the meters or on the meters themselves, enter it into the app, pick a time, and it charges your credit card.

The whole thing takes maybe 30 seconds. A significant chunk of that time comes from the Parkmobile app needing to check whether the parking code entered is in DC or some other city. Some of the time the same code also matches a parking space in Dearborn, Michigan, and I have to tell the app each time that yes, I’m in DC. But that minor annoyance is nothing compared to the work involved in using a multispace meter, or worst of all, finding quarters.

Not having to carry quarters also makes the parking rates seem trivial. Before, to park downtown I’d have to periodically ask a bank for a large roll of quarters (and I use a credit union, which doesn’t have a branch on every corner but is far better than a retail bank). Now, it’s less than the price of a drink at the local coffee shop (or a round trip on Metro).

Frankly, driving and parking is a little more appealing now. Thanks to the rates Jack Evans wasn’t able to roll back, I can even usually expect to find a space when I need one. I don’t drive much, but if I have to carry large objects or run errands far out in the suburbs, I know parking is an option.

Montgomery County has rolled out their own, sadly incompatible system. If you’ve used it, how easy is it?