More good Detroit news. I'm the type who doesn't mind paying for parking, I just don't like it to be a frustrating ordeal -- fumbling for coins, putting a quarter in a meter and watching it fail to register any time and sweating about how much time I have left.

It's great now. In 20 seconds I am paid and on my way before I even leave my car.

The arrival of the kiosk / mobile app has ended that and cleared the sidewalks of a clutter of broken parking meters. For those not familiar, here's how it works.

  1. Note the sign telling you your zone number. A picture of what a sign looks appears below.
  2. Open the Detroit Parking App on your smart phone, a quick download if you don't have it yet, and enter the zone number.Name: parking meter app.png Views: 1132 Size: 225.6 KB
  3. Choose which car and license number you are using. You set these up once and can have several cars listed if needed.
  4. Choose how much time you want to buy.
  5. Choose which credit card to use and make payment. Again this is a one time set up allowing you to have multiple cards, say business and personal, available.
  6. Set alerts for when you want to be reminded your time is getting short.

The countdown clock starts running and a receipt is emailed to you.

Of course there is still the kiosk where one can pay by cash or credit but it is clunky, time consuming and you have to remember your plate number - and they can break down too. Still it's far better than the old meters.

According to this Freep article the new system is making money for the city even though ticket revenue is down largely, I believe, because the app alert system allows one avoid overage and/or buy more time. Maintenance costs are down and parking collections are way up.