City Activates Pay by Phone Parking Service

Epark, the City of Eugene’s Parking Services program, is launching a new pay-by-mobile-phone service for several popular downtown parking locations today.  The new service will help save time and money by allowing customers to use their mobile phone to pay for parking at City managed parking lots and garages.
Developed by the company Parkmobile USA, the service allows registered users to pay for parking with a mobile phone application, the internet, or a toll free phone call to 877-PARK-832 or 1-877-727-5832.  They can even receive a text message reminders of the time left on their space. Customers can register to use the service at www.parkmobile.com.  

“Our goal is to continue to reduce the number of parking tickets issued by making it as easy as possible to park,” notes Parking Services Manager Jeff Petry. “Not having coins and the inconvenience of having to go back to the meter to add more time are two of the most frequent issues I hear people talk about when it comes to parking. The pay by cell phone service overcomes both of these issues by providing another payment option and notifying the customer of when their time will expire.

The program works with electronic payment stations at seven off-street parking areas including the downtown public library garage and surface lot, the Broadway North and South garages, the Hult Center garage, the City Hall surface lot, and  the train depot parking lot.

Creating easier payment options is part of Epark’s recent five-point strategy to spur greater use and draw more people downtown.  Epark manages downtown, campus, and neighborhood parking, including the operation of off-street parking facilities, code enforcement, and Municipal Court services. The program also contributes to the General Fund, pays debt service, and strategically manages long term parking needs of the community.