Pay-by-phone Delayed

Posted on 8/23/2016 7:28 AM by Ron Manz 107.5 KISSFM

It looks like the option to cover your parking costs in downtown Vernon on the new "pay-by-phone" system won't happen until at least late next month. Pay by phone was approved last April by City Hall with hopes it would be in operation in time for the summer tourist season. There have been a lot of delays though from Pay by Phone according to Protective Services Manager Clint Kanester. "All of their implementation people were working with several other communities who were in the process, so they put us off for almost a month I guess before they could start preparing to provide us with information on about what they needed so we are kind of still in that process right now." Kanester says people will still be able to plug the meters with coins though once the system is up and running. "The meters will all be still equipped and able to take coins and in some cases in the parking lots, take credit cards as well." Kanester says when it is up and running, it will be quite an easy system to utilize. "All you've got to do is follow the directions. There are already some people who are familiar with the system from other communities like Vancouver, Kelowna and Kamloops that already use the system. There are probably 4-5 different preveyors of similar systems, but pay-by-phone seems to be the one that's being used right now currently, in Kelowna and Penticton." Kanester hopes by the end of September pay by phone will be working. Users will pay a 25 cent transaction fee on top of their parking total.