NYC parking app expands to all five boroughs, DOT announces

The ParkNYC app has expanded to all five boroughs, the city Department of Transportation announced Tuesday, July 18, 2017. Photo Credit: @calixto_87 via Twitter

All 85,000 metered parking spaces in the five boroughs can now be paid for through an app, the Department of Transportation said Tuesday.

“You’ll be able to park all over the city without fumbling for change, using your credit card,” DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said at a news conference in Forest Hills.

The ParkNYC app launched in December 2016, and was initially for use between 14th and 59th streets in Manhattan before the city began to slowly expand the program.

In addition to remotely paying for parking, users can add time to their meter through the app, but the increases can only go up to the maximum amount of time allowed in that spot. If an app user, for example, paid for an hour in a two-hour parking spot, then they can add one more hour to the meter via the app. Users are notified before the meter runs out, Trottenberg said.

The app also allows drivers to pay the meter when it starts in the morning, as long as there are no street cleaning rules in effect.

More than 100,000 people have already downloaded and signed up on the app, Trottenberg said.

“Now that we have this technology, we can start to look at other creative ways that we can do parking pricing,” Trottenberg said, adding that they could potentially address some demands for longer meter limits.

“You want to balance customer convenience with turnover for merchants,” she said.

City Council member Ydanis Rodriguez, chairman of the transportation committee, said he hopes the program will expand to implement demand-based parking.

“ParkNYC is about convenience, and it’s about saving time for drivers like myself,” he said.

And for New Yorkers who prefer the old-fashioned way, payment using coins or credit cards will remain available.