Mayor Michael Bloomberg
announced the pilot program to test out the technology, which he said
would help make streets less congested and modernize the payment
process.

“It’s worked elsewhere and we think it will work here,” Mr. Bloomberg
said on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, where the pilot program is slated
to launch. “This is a better technology for everyone. It should lead to
fewer problems, fewer disagreements about whether or not you’ve paid or
haven’t paid.”

Drivers who register on the PayByPhone website can use their iPhones
or BlackBerrys to pay for one of more than 260 parking spaces with
electronic “pucks” embedded in the streets below them. The disks
transmit a signal to a server that either the space is empty or a driver
has paid to park there.

The PayByPhone app will also send text messages or emails warning
drivers when their time is about to expire and allow them to pay for
more time without walking to the meter. A traffic officer can scan
vehicles’ license plates to see if their time has expired. 

Then later this spring, officials said, a second smartphone app will make its
debut, giving drivers and the city near-real-time information about the
probability of finding a parking space on each block.

read more  at Wall Street Journal