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Yellowknifers weigh in on new parking app

Launched in early January, the city's new pay-by-phone parking app is being touted as a quick and easy alternative that saves time and, through ticket avoidance, money. But with a tied-in surcharge and limited top-up options, some people say the cent-less option doesn’t make much sense.

“I don’t feel it’s necessary,” said Linda, a city resident who didn’t wish to give her last name, during a recent interview in the city’s downtown.

While the app, dubbed MacKay Pay, and downloaded through Pingstreet Mobile, is free itself, a 35-cent surcharge on top of standard hourly rates goes to the app's maker for every mobile payment, said the city’s communications officer Richard McIntosh.

The surcharge, however, doesn’t translate to extra coins in the city’s coffers, as the fee is retained entirely by MacKay Pay.

While operation fees linked to payment apps aren’t uncommon, Linda said the few extra cents are enough to keep her feeding the meter the old fashioned way.

Brendan Burke/NNSL photo. While Evelyn Keeping, who works downtown, hasn’t hit the download button just yet, she says she’s willing to fork over an extra 35 cents for MacKay Pay if it means remedying the “headache” she faces when parking.

“I don’t think that’s right. That’s probably why I would use money,” she said.

But for perpetual parker Evelyn Keeping, the cashless convenience of the app is worth the 35-cent price tag.
“It’s not that much. I mean, in all apps you’re going to have something that’s going to go to the creator. It’s the world we live in, so what can we do? Keeping asked.

Keeping, who hasn’t hit the download button just yet, said she’d considered going cashless to curb the parking problems she navigates regularly.

“It’s a headache for a lot of people. I work in the (downtown) area so I know,” said Keeping. “Even for my co-workers it’s a bit of nuisance with parking. Everyone’s always looking at options.”

Options, according to McIntosh, are what the rollout of the app is all about.

“The app was made available to make it more convenient for people to pay for parking,” he stated in an email. “Not everyone chooses to use the apps but now they have the option.”

But what happens when time on an app-activated meter runs out?

“The app will allow users to pay for a maximum allowed time set by the meter (one, two, or nine hours). If a person initially pays for 15 minutes they can top off to whatever the maximum time at the meter allows,” stated McIntosh.

In other words, while time can be added remotely, top-offs can only be initiated by users if the initial amount of time they paid for is under the three maximum time limits.

Several Yellowknifers interviewed for this article agreed that a new parkade would be a great convenience for people living and working downtown. It would free up street parking for shoppers or people who just need to park for a short period of time.

Meters in the central core have a maximum time of one, or two hours. Meters on surrounding streets have a nine-hour maximum.

A parking pass for use at the nine-hour parking meters costs $120 per month or $999 per year. Parking meter violations are enforced Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding public holidays.