April 26, 2012 06:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Ottawa becomes the first Canadian city to incorporate Near Field Communications for parking
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--()--PayByPhone, a leading international provider of systems for parking and urban mobility payments is pleased to announce Ottawa as the latest major North American city to implement its popular cell phone payment method for parking. PayByPhone parking allows drivers to pay for and extend their parking time using a mobile app, online, or calling a local phone number. Ottawa is the first Canadian city to incorporate near field communication (NFC) and QR code features for its parking payments.
“There has been a lot of hype around NFC recently and we’re pleased to implement this technology for real-world applications”
“We’re pleased to be the first Canadian city to offer a NFC option to PayByPhone users,” said Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson. “The City of Ottawa is always looking at ways to provide better service to our residents, and PayByPhone is another way we’re doing that.”
Every Pay & Display machine in Ottawa has a PayByPhone sticker with instructions on how use the system. Embedded in that sticker is an NFC tag with the location number of the Pay & Display machine. Once signed up, customers who have an NFC compatible smartphone simply wave it over the logo on the sticker and the PayByPhone app or mobile web page is launched. The system recognizes the user, identifies the parking location, and the customer enters the amount of time desired. An optional text message is sent five minutes before the parking session ends, and if needed, allows additional time to be purchased via the phone (subject to time restrictions).
“There has been a lot of hype around NFC recently and we’re pleased to implement this technology for real-world applications,” said Neil Podmore, VP of Business Development at PayByPhone. “This is the first use of NFC for parking in Canada and we expect more widespread adoption in 2012”
Drivers without NFC capable phones can still use the service by manually launching the app or simply calling the local number. The signs also contain QR codes for a mobile web transaction.
Customers can sign up by downloading the PayByPhone app, online at paybyphone.com, or by calling 613-691-1700. PayByPhone stickers will be installed throughout the city over the next week and the service will also be available at non-gated City of Ottawa parking lots.
For more information, please visit ottawa.ca/paybyphone.
About PayByPhone
PayByPhone is a leading international provider of services to parking authorities allowing consumers to use their mobile phones to pay for their parking by credit or debit card. It has contracts in the Canada, UK, France, and the USA. PayByPhone is part of the PayPoint Group of companies.
About PayPoint
PayPoint is a leading international provider of convenient payments and value added services to major consumer service organisations in the utility, housing, water, telecoms, media, financial services, transport, retail, e-commerce, gaming and public sectors. PayPoint delivers payments and services through a uniquely strong combination of local shops, internet and mobile distribution channels and handles over $11 billion from over 600 million transactions annually for more than 5,000 clients and merchants.
