Jan 11, 2012The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is currently in the process of deploying Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled technology at all 30,000 of its metered street-side parking spaces that allow motorists to pay for parking via mobile phones. Installation began within the city's Castro District on Dec. 14, 2011, and the solution is already operational for 250 meters equipped with the NFC-enabled stickers, according to Paul Rose, SFMTA's media relations manager. With technology provided by PayByPhone, a driver can download and install an application to his NFC-enabled mobile phone, enabling him to pay for parking by tapping the phone against an NFC decal attached to the meter. In so doing, that individual can indicate that he has parked, and approve billing for that space using a credit- or debit-card number provided at the time that the app was downloaded.
Because most mobile phones are not yet NFC-enabled, a driver can bypass the NFC functionality either by dialing a phone number on the decal, thereby launching a payment for the space, or by using an app provided by PayByPhone that stores the individual's credit-card information and requires that he manually enter the parking space's number on his phone. In conjunction with the PayByPhone system, SFMTA offers its own app for Apple iPhone and Android handsets, as well as a similar application accessible via the Web site of SFpark, San Francisco's system for managing the availability of on-street parking. The SFpark app enables a driver to search for a parking space within some parts of the city, determining the number of available spaces within the destination neighborhood (based on parking data stored on the city's software), as well as the cost of parking at that location.
"Parking in San Francisco is so high-demand that we have been looking for ways to ease that parking process," Rose says, noting that the PayByPhone solution promises to make parking spaces not only easier to find, but also simpler to pay for. The system is intended to improve traffic congestion, Rose explains, citing a study completed in that city that found that 30 percent of traffic congestion resulted from incorrectly parked vehicles (such as those double-parked) and circling by motorists searching for parking spaces. That not only slows driving commuters, he says, but also delays municipal buses and trains.
PayByPhone, a Canadian business based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has been providing parking-payment solutions for a decade, but this is the firm's first solution employing NFC technology. The company expects NFC-enabled phones to proliferate within the next few years, according to Neil Podmore, PayByPhone's VP, thereby making the NFC functionality increasingly popular as time passes. "Our view is that we'll see ever more NFC-enabled phones out there," he states, "so to install the NFC technology now is a smart infrastructure investment from our point of view, and from the city's point of view."
All of the city's meters accept coin payments, but if a driver prefers to utilize the NFC technology, he would first need to download the app and input a credit- or debit-card number, to be linked to his own phone's NFC ID number. Upon tapping the phone against the sticker, the driver would see instructions on his phone, prompting him to input how long he planned to park in that spot—one hour, for example—after which the PayByPhone software would display the cost of that transaction, which that person would then be required to approve before the transaction could be completed. Five minutes before the meter was due to expire, that individual's phone would receive a text message reminding him that he must either retrieve his car or pay for additional time (assuming the city's parking regulations allowed the latter option). PayByPhone is providing the service at no cost to San Francisco. Rather, the company charges each user a 45-cent service fee per transaction, to cover all costs.
City workers patrolling the streets looking for parking violations will continue to use their existing handheld PDAs, which enable them to print tickets. With the PayByPhone system in place, an employee can simply input a particular meter's eight-digit number, which would then be transmitted to the PayByPhone server via a Wi-Fi or cellular connection. Server software would then provide a list of all spots on that side of the street, for that specific block, that have been paid for. Those unpaid would thus be in violation. Since the first NFC stickers were installed on Dec. 14, Rose says, there have been approximately 500 NFC transactions—though he expects that number to grow as additional NFC-enabled phones are adopted.
To date, Podmore says, about 93 municipalities are using PayByPhone parking-payment solutions, including the Westminster section of London. However, he notes, San Francisco is the first to include the NFC functionality. The second NFC-enabled PayByPhone solution is scheduled to go live in February 2012, he adds, with 650 stickers, in the city of Ottawa, Ontario. In this case, Ottawa will attach the stickers to its existing payment machines, each supporting up to 10 parking spots in which a motorist will be able to enter his license plate number, which would then be linked to that person's payment information stored on the PayByPhone system. If the driver opts for the NFC function, however, the mobile phone could read the NFC sticker and forward that sticker's ID, along with its own, to the back-end server, where the user's license plate number and payment data would be linked to that information, thereby making the process faster and more efficient. PayByPhone expects to equip its existing customers with NFC technology during the coming years as well.
