2012年9月6日 星期四

Mobile payments that matter: parking meters

That’s a much better return on effort for users than, say, a mobile payments app like Square, which replaces the marginal inconvenience of swiping a credit card with fumbling through a mobile app.

San Francisco’s parking meters also use NFC, but in a decidedly low-tech way. The city didn’t retrofit every meter with fancy NFC readers and wireless connectivity. Each meter just has an NFC sticker on it, which has a unique identifier that tells the app what meter it is. If you have an NFC-enabled phone, it saves you the trouble of entering the meter number. But if you don’t, it still works just fine. All of the payment smarts are in the app, not in the meter. (Parkers without smartphones can call a toll-free number to pay for parking.)

It’s still early in the mobile parking game, so there are bugs. I’ve tried using mobile payments in New Orleans and Los Angeles to pay for parking meters from my hotel room when I parked on the street overnight. In both cases,If you are looking for offshore merchant accounts, IntegriPAY can help you today! the meters weren’t in the system.

In Washington, D.C., I parked and paid with the Parkmobile app, but returned to find that my rental car had a ticket on it. Because the mobile apps don’t update the display on the meter, the meter maid just saw that it was expired and issued a ticket. (The meter reader has to check a second device in order to verify a parker’s payment status.) A few emails to Parkmobile and the ticket was dismissed. That’s a problem that should resolve itself as more people use the technology and meter maids become accustomed to verifying the paid license plate numbers. Alternatively, the ticketing machines could hit the parking app database before issuing a ticket.

There is a potential threat to the mobile parking meter: greed by municipalities. Because the systems are keyed to license plate numbers, if you have outstanding violations, it’s possible that by parking and paying, you’ve just alerted authorities to where they can tow you car. Although DC hadn’t integrated its ticketing systems to prevent invalid tickets,Capture the look and feel of real stone or ceramic tile flooring with Alterna. apparently it has integrated its outstanding violations with the parking app.Learn how Toyota's Solar Powered ventilation system uses the sun's rays. I read one report of a car being towed after paying with a mobile app.

But if you don’t have outstanding tickets,A top plastic rtls manufacturer and exporter in China. it’s a remarkable convenience and an indication that mobile payments will happen. It’s a matter of applying the technology where it makes sense, not forcing it unnaturally into experiences that already work well.

In addition to resurfacing and lighting, the hospital will get sidewalk and drainage system upgrades, and Rotary Manor will get electrical plug-ins. The Ministry of Health says in a press release, that when the upgrade is finished, there will be 30 additional parking spaces for visitors at the northwest corner of the hospital, as well as 30 parking spaces for staff behind Rotary Manor.

"This will allow for improved parking availability, so visitors may have increased and efficient access to parking when they visit the Dawson Creek and District Hospital, Rotary Manor, Northview and Southview facilities. The parking spots that will become available will also ease congestion and help handle the flow of traffic around the facilities."

The hospital's upgrade will cost $430,000, with $258,000 from the government of B.C. and $172,000 from the PRRHD. Rotary Manor's upgrade will cost $265,000, with $159,000 from the provincial government and $106,000 from the PRRHD.

"Visitors to the facilities can look forward to a better parking experience with reduced congestion," says Peace River South MLA Blair Lekstrom. "These projects contribute greatly to an improved visitor experience,Browse the Best Selection of buy mosaic and Accessories with FREE Gifts. which is good news for Dawson Creek area families."

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