San José Street Parking To Go Digital, Payment Is Made By Cell Phone

The city of San José has signed a deal to modernize street parking through a digital platform by sending a text message from a cellular phone.



San José mayor, Johnny Araya, said that the new system that will include some 1.500 parking spaces is expected operational by the end of the year replaces the existing parking meters.

To use the digital meters, a driver sends a text message with the vehicle plate number and location to active, start the meter running and then another message to stop it. The charge (debit) for the time will then be made by the system to the user's account.

To use the digital meters a user must open an account and receive a PIN., which accounts can be opened at banks, grocery stores and other points of sale.

The City signed a five year contract with the Spanish company, Setex, that will operate the system - marking all the parking spaces  and providing the equipment - in return for a 30% take of the revenues from the meters.

The Spanish company, Setex, has signed a contract with the city to identify the parking spaces and mark them with a unique number for users to