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The City of Asbury Park released its Summer 2019 transportation updates Friday.

“This summer, the City launches an electric scooter program, downtown receives a valet parking service, an additional parking payment app becomes available, and the new Guest Parking Permit program was introduced,” a written news statement said.

Electric Scooter Share
The City’s new electric scooter share program launches with Zagster, the City’s bike share vendor, and their partner, Spin. The pilot scooter-share program will run from July 31 through June 2020. The program includes up to 250 scooters stationed at 30 locations around Asbury Park for riders 18 years and older. Scooters will be available from 7 am to 9 pm daily at a cost of $1 plus $0.15 per minute. Users can download the Spin app to their mobile phone to set up an account, find a map of scooter locations, pay for sessions, and ‘unlock’ scooters for use with a QR code scan. Scooters must be operated on City streets in bike lanes when available, and not on sidewalks.

“Scooters are an affordable, fast, convenient and fun way to travel around the City,” said Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn, “We did a ton of research before bringing this pilot to Asbury Park, including evaluating other cities that have launched scooter sharing programs and visiting Hoboken, the first municipality in New Jersey to launch a scooter-share program. We see this as an amenity for residents who may not have access to a car or who are looking for an alternative to driving within Asbury Park. And, as with any pilot program, we will continue to evaluate it once it launches to ensure successful and safe operation of the scooters.”

For more information, visit www.cityofasburypark.com/scooters.

Downtown Asbury Park Valet Parking Service
The City of Asbury Park is pleased to announce a valet parking service will be available for visitors to downtown starting July 18, 2019. The pilot program will run through at least Labor Day and will be operated by LAZ Parking. Users can drop their vehicles off with a LAZ attendant at a valet stand located at Press Plaza on Cookman Avenue at Emory Street and then text to retrieve the vehicle. An additional valet stand location will be added in the future at Bond Street between Cookman and Lake Avenues. Vehicles will be parked in City-operated parking lots and the cost per vehicle will be $20. Hours will be Thursday and Friday 4:30pm-11:30pm, Saturday 11:00am to 11:30pm, and Sunday 11:00am to 5:00pm.

“This pilot valet program is an incremental step in our goal to improve parking accessibility in the City and especially in our downtown to help support our local businesses,” said Councilperson Eileen Chapman, “The service is designed to not only provide coverage during busy weekend evenings, but also during the day to encourage visitors to come enjoy more than just the nightlife in Asbury Park.”

For more information, visit www.cityofasburypark.com/valet.

Additional Parking Payment App Now Available through ParkMobile
The City is providing an additional parking payment app option to users with the launch of ParkMobile in Asbury Park. The app enables users to easily pay for over 3,000 on-street parking spaces right from their mobile device. The ParkMobile app is currently in use by almost 600,000 users in cities across New Jersey including Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken and New Brunswick.

To pay for parking using the ParkMobile app, a user simply enters the zone number posted on signage in the area, chooses the duration of time they wish to park, and touches the “Start Parking” button. The ParkMobile app will send alerts when the parking session is about to expire so a user can extend time right from the app.

For a limited time, first-time users of the ParkMobile app can get a $2 dollar discount on parking in any on-street spot in Asbury Park by using the code “PMASBURY” when they start a parking session.

“We are excited to offer the ParkMobile app as another payment option,” Transportation Director Michael Manzella said. “Our goal is to always improve the parking experience – and we know a lot of visitors from other cities in New Jersey already have the app on their phone, making it an easy way for them to pay for parking when they visit Asbury Park.”

For more information, to watch a video demo of how to use the app and to download the app, visit www.parkmobile.io.

New Guest Parking Permits
The City has launched a new Guest Parking Permit program to help make parking easier for residents’ visitors. Residents in metered parking zones 1 through 4 may purchase up to 2 Guest Parking Permits a day at a discounted rate of $10. Permits may be purchased viathepermitportal.com.

Residents with active parking permits can purchase Guest Parking Permits online up to, and including, the same calendar day they are needed. Residents without active parking permits may also purchase Guest Parking Permits online but will need to allow 3 days for the permit to be approved.

Once the permits are activated, guests may simply park in the Zone for which the Guest Parking Permit was purchased, no hangtag or decal required.

For instructions and guidelines, visitcityofasburypark.com/guestparking.

For more information on the City of Asbury Park, visit cityofasburypark.com.

[Photo courtesy of City of Asbury Park]

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