VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PayByPhone, a world leader in mobile payments for parking, is disrupting the traditional parking landscape for cities and consumers. Using breakthrough mobile technology, life is becoming easier for city dwellers around the world.
With the introduction of initiatives such as Google’s Sidewalk Labs, there is increasing pressure on technology developers to provide better solutions for urban living. Urban mobility is just one of these challenges, as the concept of a connected city has been a focus for regions across the globe for some time now. We live in a fast paced world that is rapidly turning to innovation in more traditional industries to solve issues and engage with an increasingly connected community.
PayByPhone is one company challenging the parking industry by streamlining the parking payment process and giving city dwellers precious minutes back in their day. Boston is a key example of a North American city leading the way using mobile innovation to offer digital payment for residents and visitors alike. This means more convenience for Bostonians and less infrastructure and costs to manage.
Following the successful launch of PayByPhone’s service in 2014, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has decided to remove their old ‘honor box’ method of cash payment entirely in July, 2015. This decision was a result of 70% percent of drivers choosing to use their mobile phones, rather than cash, for payment, in just over a year – a phenomenal uptake in a short period of time.
“MBTA is an excellent example of a North American city that’s now riding a megatrend by enhancing its urban mobility programs through innovation,” said Kush Parikh, President, PayByPhone. “The good news for global consumers is that the possibilities for a more connected city don’t end here, as PayByPhone continues to introduce innovative solutions to alleviate one of the daily hassles of modern life – parking.”
Following a successful launch of PayByPhone’s technology in 2014, Paris is another example of a city going mobile for parking but taking it one step further to launch a personalized parking program. The program launched in May 2015 and automatically calculates preferred parking rates based on specific parking locations across the city. The benefit to drivers using the PayByPhone app is that their license plates are automatically recognized, generating accurate rates in real-time. This virtually eliminates the need to dispute fraudulent or invalid charges and rates. It also means abusers, such as drivers parking in handicapped parking zones when they are not eligible, will be caught and penalized accordingly.
In the UK, PayByPhone has also launched its virtual permit service in Southwark, one of London’s busiest inner boroughs, which offers residents who live in the applicable parking zones the convenient option of purchasing and activating permits via the web, SMS or phone. The online system simplifies the process for residents and saves the Southwark Council time and money.
“Much like Google’s Sidewalk Labs, PayByPhone has long recognized that large cities have numerous mobility problems, which can now be easily solved through mobile technology,” added Parikh. “All our services can be scaled quickly for the cities we service and rolled out globally to benefit clients and consumers alike.”
ABOUT PAYBYPHONE
PayByPhone is part of PayPoint plc, an international leader in payment technologies. PayPoint’s solutions transform payments for everyone from consumer and financial services companies to retailers, utilities, media, e-commerce, gaming and government clients. PayPoint delivers payments and services by taking the complexity of multi-channel payments and translating it into convenient, simple, value-added solutions covering online, mobile and retail channels. It handles approximately £22 billion from over 800 million transactions annually for more than 6,000 clients and merchants.
PayPoint’s Mobile and Online business handles over 142 million payments for parking, payments and consumer services. In countries such as the UK, Canada, USA, France, Switzerland and Australia, PayByPhone makes it easy for people to pay for parking by mobile, as well as providing electronic parking permits, personalized parking, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems for car parks and penalty charge notices.
PayPoint’s core online payments platform is linked to 16 major acquiring banks in the UK, Europe and North America, delivering secure credit and debit card payments for almost 4,800 online merchants. Its suite of products ranges from transaction gateway to a bureau service, in addition to value-added services, including advanced technology that mitigates the risk of fraud in card not present transactions.