All Sault Ste. Marie city parking will now go through mobile app
SAULT STE. MARIE — Sault city officials have announced that all city-owned public parking spaces will now be controlled entirely though a mobile app platform.
Passport Parking is a mobile app for phones that allows users to connect directly to a parking meter and pay without any physical transaction. With this new system, all metered and permit parking will now be conducted through the app. Starting on May 10, there will be no way to park in a city-owned space without it.
To use Passport Parking, people will need to download the app, enter your car's license plate number, location and expected time of stay. You can then pay automatically.
“Passport’s technology gives us more insight into how our parking services are being utilized, so that we can continue to improve the parking experience while reducing our reliance on costly hardware,” said Robin Troyer, deputy city manager, in a statement. “From hiking, to shopping, to enjoying entertainment, providing an easier way to pay to park will empower our community to enjoy doing whatever it is that they enjoy most in Sault Ste Marie.”
Users can see when their parking session is about to expire and add time to it remotely, as well as view their parking history.
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Officials said the city approved this program because it comes at no cost, and is more convenient to use, but it also provides other benefits. The program can be used to track data and see which parking spaces are the most used.
“The demand for contactless payment options continues to rise — especially for everyday tasks, such as parking,” said Jake Breig, Passport account executive, in a statement. “In addition to offering the community a convenient way to pay for parking, we are thrilled to enable the City of Sault Ste Marie to collect, aggregate and visualize its parking and mobility data in one central location through our platform.”
Passport is used by more than 800 cities, universities and agencies in North America, including Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles and Miami.
More: Sault Ste. Marie to hold public meeting about parking meter installment
More: New parking permit system to begin for downtown Sault Ste. Marie
In previous meetings of the city commission, officials discussed making every parking meter in the city digital, but did not include that in plans.
In the past year, the city has made several upgrades to the parking system, including consolidating various parking permits and adding kiosks at every location so that it is easier for residents to pay for a space. Last year, the city introduced a new parking system that allowed all parking spaces to be paid for with either a permit or kiosk.
More: All Sault Ste. Marie city streets now have enforced 24/7 parking
Other developments to the parking system in the last year include adding meters to every unmetered parking location in the downtown. Around 71 percent of street parking spaces on Ashmun and Portage streets were previously unmetered and free to park for two hours.
Several months later, the city announced that all metered parking spaces will now be running 24/7, meaning that payment will be required no matter what time of day. Previously, only marked street spaces were monitored 24/7. It now applies to parking lots controlled by kiosks and permits as well.
Residents who don't want to download the app can manage parking online at passportparking.com.
— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Passport Parking will be available to pay for parking spaces in Sault