Park Smarter

I had a very difficult time getting the app set up and I almost gave up when I read reviews that said it doesn’t work for them. But I was in a bind where I needed to renew a spot I parked in that I couldn’t return to physically, so I kept trying. After several failed attempts I was FINALLY able to get my account set up & it’s worked perfectly. In Los Angeles, doing auditions with unpredictable wait times, it’s a life saver to pay and extend parking meters remotely. :)

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Using this app was truly a miserable experience. I normally use coins to park in the meters in Metuchen New Jersey, but one day I was out of coins and decided to give the app a try. It only gave me the option to park for the minimum amount of time ( an hour and 35 minutes) Or the maximum amount of time (three days). Since I needed to park for 12 hours, this was a problem. However, I discovered you can add time after the initial time, so I was able to get it up to above 12 hours. Somehow the combination I chose ended up with 14 1/2 hours on the meter. Now I say on the meter, but there was no actual time on the meter. I wasn’t worried because the app told me that the time would appear shortly, and since I had a train to catch I put my faith in technology. This was a bad idea. When I got back to my car there was a ticket for $40, and still no time on the meter. I spoke to the parking authority and they canceled the ticket, and told me that other customers that had similar problems.

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Not impressed. I used the app to put time on the meter for my street parking near the university, though there’s also an option to use a pay station in the general vicinity. Thinking the app payment would be sufficient, (because why wouldn’t it be?!), I went on with my day. I returned a couple of hours later to a ticket, with the citation reading: “no time on the meter.” Oookay except the app shows I paid for three hours, and I was not over on time. Now I have to go and contest this dang ticket and deal with the city. This was only the third time I’ve used the app. And prior to this occasion, the app has been generally very unstable. One time it wouldn’t load my time so I couldn’t see how much I had left and another time it showed something strange like 13 hours, making me worry I’d been charged for that much, in a zone that doesn’t even allow you to park for that long. Very frustrating experiences.

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Was excited to see an app that would help me save time dealing with Hollywood parking, but instead, has caused me to waste more time than just using my credit card. The app is dreadfully slow!! SO slow that just waiting for the app to open takes more time than using a credit card at the meter and walking away. Half the time, the Bluetooth won’t communicate effectively with the meter, forcing you to use a credit card at the end of it all, ANYWAY. If you thought you could use the app to extend your parking meter’s time, you thought wrong. In fact, you have to come back out to the parking meter for it to connect. Also, I’ve received 2 parking tickets because the system is flawed and parking attendants don’t recognize that you already paid for parking with the app. I liked the idea of the app, but it’s caused much more stress and frustration than it even intended to solve.

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Great idea for all municipalities for customer convenience and compliance with metered parking. However, as of this iteration, the signup process and modal dialogues are buggy and the app hangs. That, and when it does not hang, it’s very slow to respond. Needs a lot of work. There are other apps I’ve used (like ParkChicago and ParkMobile) that function flawlessly and are super responsive. I’m still trying to get ParkSmarter to even work (and I’m in tech - so that’s sad for the average consumer trying to use this app). Edit/update: 10 minutes later - voila, it works! (I think - fingers crossed it activates the meter remotely and/or the enforcement pay enough attention to those that have paid via the app).