Parking in Winnipeg is about to undergo a major change, with all parking transactions to be processed through the PayByPhone mobile app.
Starting July 02, remaining city-operated paystations for on-street parking areas and several open surface lots will be removed. The shift comes as the city faces mounting technical, financial, and logistical challenges in maintaining its aging infrastructure.
One of the significant factors is that 3G networks, which paystations in Winnipeg use, will be phased out by mobile service providers. Lisa Patterson, Operations and Facilities Manager with the Winnipeg Parking Authority explains implementing new stations would be too expensive.
“The city just absolutely does not have like $3.6 million to replace these meters. Plus, don’t forget that there are operating costs around the paystations, and that’s another million dollars a year that the city will save.”
There are additional factors that came into consideration when deciding to remove the paystations. According to Patterson, the way credit cards are read is outdated, using magstripes instead of a chip and PIN, which costs the city additional processing fees to maintain secure transactions. Ongoing vandalism and theft have also raised costs and concerns.
“We’ve had a rash of paystation thefts and then incidents of vandalism since last fall,” says Patterson, with several targeted over the Mother’s Day Weekend. “There were three pay stations that were spray painted black like they purposefully spray painted where you insert your coin and your credit card and rendered those pay stations inoperable.”
Around 18 paystations have been vandalized in recent months.
U Multicultural spoke with several visitors to Winnipeg’s downtown to hear their thoughts on this decision. Mellisa believes that moving to app-only payments could be a difficult transition for some.
“I think it’s probably going to be very inaccessible to seniors and people that don’t have a cell phone or people that are tired of getting used to new ways of doing things. I don’t know why we have to change what’s not broken.”
Devon agrees that accessibility should be taken into consideration.
“I think it’s a major inconvenience, and it’s, it’s not accessible to people who don’t have cell phones, and it’s not accessible to maybe older people who don’t know how to use technology as well.”
Mallory is not from Winnipeg, but when she learned that the city would be removing its physical paystations, she was unsure of how this decision would affect people.
“As somebody who isn’t from here, I don’t really want to be making an account just to pay for parking for two days, you know? And I like the access of being able to park and pay in person. And I think as somebody who also thinks about elderly community members who might not have cell phones and things like that, it just creates a barrier for people.”
Ron, another non-Winnipeg visitor, thinks this will make parking much easier.
“I think most people have cell phones, and it’s not hard to get an app to do that, and it makes it a little more convenient, actually. So you don’t have to carry, let’s say, cash or, you know, fumbling with a credit card. You can just do the app thing in your car, pay, and you’re done.”
He added that using a phone could help you avoid walking through snow to a paystation during the winter.
Patterson says the city understands that transitioning will be a challenge for some. To ensure the needs of residents who may not be as tech-savvy or who still prefer to pay with cash, existing scratch-and-park vouchers have been rebranded as “prepaid parking booklets.”
“Those booklets are available right now and have been available for the public for years. So you can go to the Parking Authority store at 495 Portage Avenue and purchase some.”
Discussions are also taking place to sell these booklets at other locations in the coming weeks. Two locations will be in Saint Boniface: 219 Provencher Boulevard, “French City Hall”, and 170 Goulet Street. Winnipeg City Hall, located at 510 Main Street, will be another location.
Patterson notes that Winnipeg is in a favourable position for the change.
“We’ve been using PayByPhone for years and years. We hit a record high month earlier this year where 82 per cent of our transactions were through PayByPhone, whereas Edmonton was at 60 per cent. So they’ve got to convert a lot more people than we do. We are really focused on converting the people that were still using credit cards in our paystations. So about 10 per cent of our customers are inserting a credit card to a paystation.”
No discussions have been held on whether parking prices would change with the shift away from physical paystations. Patterson says that savings will help offset the 25-cent convenience fee per transaction that the city currently absorbs, a cost that many cities pass on to users.
However, residents should be aware that the app offers optional text message notifications, which incur small charges. Turning off those notifications while keeping phone push notifications enabled can help avoid extra fees.
For anyone who is coming downtown, Patterson encourages them to plan ahead, especially if they’re new to the city.
“A newcomer to Winnipeg, although they have a phone, they don’t have data on their phone yet. So it is really important that if you are planning a trip downtown and you have an appointment at any one of our offices, or you want to come down for lunch or whatever, make sure that when you have free Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi available, you download the app before you come. Insert your credit card information, and some people don’t remember the license plate numbers, so try to get as much of that done ahead of time.”
A desktop version is also available, and parking can be scheduled ahead of time. “Try to get all that done before you start making your way downtown just so that you’re not left on the side of the street going, okay, now what?”
The removal of the pay stations begins July 2, targeting low-cash-use areas first. High-cash-use stations, particularly near hospitals and government buildings, will remain in place longer to give users more time to adapt. All paystations are anticipated to be removed by August 31.
– Ryan Funk, U Multicultural
