Drivers who park on the street in both Minneapolis and St. Paul are increasingly bypassing pay stations and using their smartphones phones to feed the meter.
Nearly one in five motorists who park at meters in Minneapolis are using the city's parking app, which debuted last year and is now available at 7,800 on-street parking spaces controlled with meters. And that is well beyond expectations, said Mark Read, assistant parking manager for the city.
"We were looking for 10 to 15 percent," he said. "We've seen steady increase since we went citywide in October."
Not surprisingly, the highest usage occurred on the coldest days, Read said. And another pleasant surprise is that has translated into an increase in revenue, although Read didn't specify how much.
With 18 percent of parkers using the pay-by-phone service, Read said Minneapolis is above the national average of 10 to 15 percent in other cities. He expects usage to peak at around 20 percent.
The number of parkers using a similar app in St. Paul are lower, at 5 percent, said city spokesman Joe Ellickson of the city's Public Works Department. But Capitol City only rolled out its PassportParking mobile pay app in February.
"With time and awareness, we expect that number to grow," he said.
The city's app also only is available in the downtown area with 1,600 spaces. But the service is expected to be expanded to the Capitol area by the end of May and citywide sometime this summer, he said.
