When I used to visit my brother at the University of Vermont in Burlington, I’d always pride myself on knowing where the good cheap (or free) parking was in the city. There isn’t much, and most of it necessitates kind of a long walk. It’s not that I’m trying to save the 2-3 dollars on parking. It’s just inconvenient to have to have that much change in my car and then to remember how much time is left on the meter. When I finished college, I remember cleaning out my car and finding over $40 worth of change scattered in all the compartments (a graduation gift to myself?). I’m far neater these days, and don’t have that much change lying around in my car.
A few months ago, I was in Burlington for a doctor appointment and noticed a sticker on the meter where I had parked. It was a number and a little bit of information about an app, Parkmobile. I was a little skeptical at first but figured I’d give it a try. Here’s how it works…
Once you download the app, you’ll need to make a quick account. This is so you can have a payment method on file. You can use a credit card or PayPal. You’ll also need to enter your car’s plate number. At this point, all you have to do is enter the number on the meter, and choose how much time you’d like to add to your parking session in the app. The numbers on the meters aren’t individual, they represent a parking “zone”. If a meter attendant comes by, they’ll look up to see if your car’s plate number is registered in the app to be parked in that zone, and how much time you have.
The thing I really like about the app and this system is that I can see exactly how much time remains by just opening the Parkmobile app on my phone. The app will also send you alerts if your time is getting low. The best part is that you can add time to the meter no matter where you are. I was once a few blocks away with my brother and got an alert that my time was low. I fired up the app and added another hour. Easy! I should note that because they’re using credit cards there is a 35-cent surcharge that gets added on to cover the card processing fees. For the convenience of the app though, I’m more than happy to pay it.
So far in Vermont, Burlington is the only city that offers Parkmobile parking, but other cities in the region that offer it are Keene, NH, and a number of areas around Boston. Of course, the NYC area and cities in Connecticut offer it as well. So the next time you’re parking, don’t stress about keeping the meter fed. Give the Parkmobile app a try to help eliminate those parking tickets!