Calgary Parking Authority Launches ‘Text to Park’ Payment System [Update]

For those living in Calgary, it looks like parking is going to get a whole lot easier. The Calgary Parking Authority (CPA) has launched Text to Park, which enables drivers to quickly pay and control their parking sessions via text message.

The new Text to Park feature will be available in ParkPlus zones, parkades and surface lots.

How to use Text to Park? Easy. Just text the 4-digit ParkPlus zone number to 77587 (PPLUS), which will then send a confirmation text of parking details. Upon returning, users text PPLUS again to end their session to only pay for the amount of time parked, or can call ParkPlus to continue their parking session:

“Text to Park is a great new feature to the ParkPlus System and makes activating and deactivating a parking session even easier for Calgarians,” said Troy McLeod, General Manager. “We’re continuing to look for new ways to use technology to make parking faster and more convenient for our customers.”

Want to use this new system? Visit www.parkplus.ca to create an account to get started. ParkPlus accounts do not charge admin fees so all money deposited goes towards parking, but they note “a minimum $1.00 fee applies to all cell phone account transactions for on street parking.”

ParkPlus currently has 1,142 parking zones servicing close to 44,000 ParkPlus cell phone accounts.

Sounds like a great way to only pay for the exact amount of time you park for. You would hope in the future they would introduce an app to make it even easier, like PayByPhone.

Let us know if you’re in Calgary and have used this new payment system. Has it made parking life easier?

Update: The CPA sent us a tweet to inform us an iPhone app is currently being worked on, and will launch this Fall. Stay tuned!

[Marketwire via MobileSyrup]

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