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Asbury Park Transportation Manager Michael Manzella unveiled a new parking app that would reduce user cost, allow for added convenience and streamline the process.

Charged by the Parking Committee to vet new mobile apps, Manzella said after researching Parkmobile, Pay by Phone, and Passport, he recommends the latter. The app also won the recommendation of Cowerks cofounder Bret Morgan, an app developer who sits on the Parking Committee.

“They are offering a lower per transaction fee,” he said. “So, that alone is enough to consider it but additionally one of the things that Passport offers that the others don’t is to go to a single zone implementation.”

The current mPay2Park, which requires users to input a zone, charges .35 cents per use.

Passport offers single zone implementation and charges.30 cents per transaction, which would not close out until the motorist leaves a parking space, unlike the former which charges an additional .35 if a motorist wants to add time to their parking session.

“Since our city has all unique parking space numbers for metered spaces, you can just punch in your number and park, there is no trying to find your zone,” Manzella said. “Right now you pay the .35 cent transaction fee to park, if you want to add time while your parking session is still active, you get hit with another .35 cent. Passport does not charge you until the parking session is done so you don’t get hit with additional fees.”

Another issue with the current parking app is one of reliability, he said.

“The past two Saturdays the app actually crashed,” Manzella said. “That may not be a big deal for people trying to pay but our officers actually use the app for enforcement so we were unable to enforce while the app was down.”

Manzella said Passport is a national company with contracts in major cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Boston, et al. Their application runs on an Amazon hosted web service.

Other benefits offered by the Wilmington, Del. based company include call and text pay options, signs for each meter, a one-click sign up, and a private label branded app.

“People would not have to download the Passport app,” he said. “It would be an Asbury Park app.”

Manzella said Asbury Park would be the first in the state to utilize Passports parking app.

Potential uses include:

The use of digital permits, allowing for the ability to purchase parking permits online and transition away from hang tag permits. In that case, one’s license plate number would be the permit parking identifier.

The app has the ability to show on an aggregate level where parking might be available.

Its merchant couponing program that would allow businesses to purchase as much parking as they wanted in exchange for a coupon code to passed onto patrons.

On demand transaction fees with mPay2Park could be refunded by the company if the city chooses to move the new app or users can also opt to stay with mPay2Park since it is utilized in area communities like Long Branch, Red Bank and Belmar.

Manzella said the current mPay2Park app has 3 percent utilization, with most visitors opting to use the parking meters.   

If the City Council authorizes the new app later this month, it could be up and running by Memorial Day, Manzella said.

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