Parking Downtown? Starting Saturday, There’s an App for That

This Saturday, the City of New Bedford is launching a new mobile payment app for motorists to utilize at metered parking spaces downtown.

The free MobileNOW! App can be downloaded anytime and used when parking at a meter. Tourism Director Dagny Ashley tells WBSM News it's a simple, convenient way to pay for parking.

"Once you download the app, you enter in your phone number and your email, and then you can put in your credit card info," Ashley said. "Once you put in your info, then it's saved for future use and you can always go right to your app."

The new app will eliminate credit card use at the meters, although they still will take coin payment. And for those without a smartphone or quarters, Ashley says there is a phone number on the meter motorists can call to make a payment that way.

The meters will still have a two-hour time limit, and Ashley recommends those who need parking for longer than two hours utilize one of the city's two parking garages downtown.

The parking prices will remain the same, but there will be a 25 cent service charge to the motorist each time they make a payment through the app. Although that might not be great for the person parking, it saves money for the city.

"It's actually a more efficient way versus credit cards, because as we know, credit cards do come with a service fee," Ashley said.

All of the necessary information to download and utilize the app will be posted on the meters, but people can also download it ahead of time through their device's app store to get a jump on time spent in front of the meter.

"When you pay for a metered spot through the app, that automatically syncs to a live handheld device that the meter maids will walk around with," Ashley said. "If you add another hour, it won't show visibly on the meter, but it will sync to their device and they automatically know that meter is paid for another hour."