Washington Post

Council Weighs Program That Could Make the Search for Spare Change an Obsolete Parking Concern

Nirav Thaker had just pulled his black sport-utility vehicle into a parking lot in downtown Bethesda one recent evening. He hopped out, reached into his pocket and let out a deep sigh. No quarters.

Could he make it in and out of the nearby Barnes & Noble before parking enforcement arrived and slapped a ticket on his windshield that could cost as much as $40?

In a few months, Thaker and others who come up short on change might not have to grapple with such a dilemma. Under a plan before the Montgomery County Council, instead of quarters, Bethesda parkers will be able to pay for parking with their cellphones.

If approved at the council’s meeting Thursday, Montgomery would be the first jurisdiction in the D.C. area to use the system, which is in place in many European countries and U.S. cities including Coral Gables, Fla., and Decatur, Ga. Officials in San Francisco recently concluded a pilot of the program, which attracted about 10,000 mostly young and tech-savvy users, a spokesman for the city’s mayor said. They plan to expand it citywide.

"We love it," said Coral Gables spokeswoman Maria Huggins. "If you haven’t done it in Washington, D.C., then you need to get Obama to give us a call."

Cellphone parking is one of a growing number of services and products people can purchase using cellphones.

Mobile commerce is huge in Asia and Europe, where people can buy groceries and movie tickets with cellphones and even use them for banking. But the service has been slow to arrive in the United States

Analysts at Celent, an international research and consulting firm, estimate that worldwide mobile payments were about $24 billion in 2006, and they are expected to grow dramatically as more institutions and merchants experiment with the technology.

In San Francisco, people can use cellphones to pay fares on the area’s subway system, BART. Fast-food company Jack in the Box piloted a program that allows people to buy food via cellphone.

Details of the Montgomery plan are pending, county spokeswoman Esther Bowring said, but if the program mirrors others in use, it would work like this: When drivers arrive at a designated parking space, they would call the phone number on the meter and punch in the meter number, the amount it costs to park and a credit card number.

Those who plan ahead would have the option of going to a Web site and setting up an online account. People would pay the parking fee, plus a 25-cent surcharge to use the service. People could still pay with quarters, Bowring said.

And that’s not all.

If time is running out on the meter, users of the service would receive a text message reminder. If they return before time has expired, they could get a partial refund.

"You don’t need quarters, you don’t have to guess how long you’re going to be, because you’ll get a text message that says, ‘Your time is going to be up, would you like a little more?’ " said County Council member Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda). "By doing this, we [can make] the parking experience so much nicer."

Time limits would still be enforced, parking officials said. Berliner said the pilot has broad support on the council, although at initial public hearings about the pilot program, some members expressed concern that the county might lose revenue because fewer tickets might be issued and people who use meters would be able to get refunds on time not used.

Potential users of the proposed system seemed pleased by the plan. Meters in three parking areas would be used in the pilot: those along Bethesda Avenue, those in the lot at Bethesda and Woodmont avenues and those in the Elm Street garage. The meters will have pay-by-phone decals with instructions on how to access the system.

"It would be great, because sometimes I don’t have enough coins," said William Romero, a massage therapist from Bethesda.

Steve Nash, chief of the county’s Division of Parking Management, said that if approved, the pilot program could start by late summer or early fall. The program, which would cost about $50,000 to set up, would run for 90 days and then be reevaluated.

"We’re not really out to give people tickets — that’s not our focus," Nash said. "If we can offer this customer service and it’s well received, we’re happy."

Thaker, who lives in Columbia, likes the idea. He said that these days folks are more likely to be carrying cellphones than a pocketful of change.

"It’s about time," he said as he dashed off to get change for his dollar.