PAY BY PHONE PARKING ARRIVES IN BIRMINGHAM

From February, visitors to Birmingham City Centre parking bays and car parks, run by the city council, will be able to pay for their parking by debit/credit card using their mobile phone or a smartphone App through the Council’s new cashless parking supplier Parkmobile.

Since 2006, Birmingham City Council has offered a cashless alternative to paying for parking at a ticket machine. This service has become increasingly popular and the Council has now entered into a new contract for the continued provision of the service.

The Parkmobile system has many advantages for the City Council and its Residents and Visitors including a wide range of smartphone Apps which will make the booking and monitoring of parking simpler for motorists. The Council is planning to roll out Phone Parking with Parkmobile in 3 phases starting late January.

Phase 1 will commence on January 27th when Parkmobile provide their Phone Parking service to the existing City Centre locations that already offer a service for paying for parking using a mobile phone.
Phase 2 will see Parkmobile rolling the service out to all City Centre on and off street parking locations in the following months.
For Phase 3, it is intended that Parkmobile will provide their service to all car parks outside of the City Centre as well.

Although the traditional coin-operated Pay and Display machines will remain, this cashless alternative should continue to prove popular with motorists who will be able to pay for parking from the comfort of their vehicle and then extend their parking session without returning to their car.  

Quick and easy transition for pay by phone customers
For existing users of the pay by phone system Parkmobile is making it incredibly easy to switch over. Street signs and information on pay and display machines will show where cashless parking is available. Motorists wishing to register to use the cashless parking service can do so for free in one of three ways:

- Over the phone calling 020 3003 2527
- Online at www.parkmobile.co.uk
- Via the Parkmobile parking app which can be downloaded from Blackberry’s App World, Apple’s App store or the Android Market.

All the Parkmobile signage, which will be installed in the car parks and on street will display the phone number to use  and provide information on where to download the Apps allowing smartphone users to go straight to the Parkmobile registration page and App download screen for their device.

Motorists can register in advance so that they are ready to use the new service when it Commences. Win one year of free Parking in Birmingham.

Added Motorist Convenience
A feature of the Parkmobile mobile phone payment system is that for motorists who finish their business in the town centre before the parking time they purchased expires, there is an option to “stop” their parking session early and obtain a reduced charge based on any unused full remaining periods (part hours will not be subject to any reduction in charge). For example, if you paid to park for 2 hours in a space that has a 1 hour time band and stopped parking after 56 minutes you would only be charged for the first hour.

Councillor Timothy Huxtable, Cabinet Member for Transport, Enviromnment and Regeneration said, “It’s great that we will be able to offer visitors to anywhere in the City a choice of systems when paying for their parking. There are many advantages to Pay by Mobile Phone parking especially not worrying about having the correct change and being able to extend parking time without needing to return to the vehicle. We hope that customers will appreciate the benefits of this service.”

Full details of the scheme will be displayed on signs on or near the existing Pay & Display machines or online at www.parkmobile.co.uk. Leaflets about the service are also available from the City Council and will be available at many of the parking locations.