Bit by bit, the parking company Atlantans love to hate, Park Atlanta, is modernizing. Pole meters take plastic now and pretty soon you won't even need cash or plastic -- just your phone.
A new cellphone app aims to revolutionize the way you pay for parking meters.
Instead of going to parking meters to pay, you can pay using the cellphone in your pocket, but there's a catch: Each time you use the phone app to pay for parking, you also pay 35 cents to use the app. Some people wanted to give that idea the boot.
"A service fee? No, they shouldn't do that. Shame on them," said one woman.
To use the new pay-by-cell system, customers will need to register at www.parkmobile.com and download the free Parkmobile application onto their Android, Blackberry, iPhone, or Windows smartphones. Once registered, customers can immediately start using the system with their registered mobile phone, the internet, or by calling Parkmobile's toll-free number (877-727-5714) to pay for parking.
Channel 2's Jeff Dore took that outrage about paying to pay to Atlanta Public Works Commissioner Richard Mendoza, who is in charge of Atlanta parking.
"You pay for the convenience, sir, and it's an option. You always have the option of going out and paying with more conventional messages without the fee," Mendoza said.
You could add time to the meter while you're still in the store browsing or in the restaurant eating, without running back out to the curb.
When Joanna Durr heard about that, she was all for it.
"That would be amazing. I just had to walk out of Murphy's to come over here," Durr said.
Some people are already using the app, but to pay for parking in parking lots.
