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Mayor De Blasio Will Announce Plan For Cell Phone Payment At Parking Meters

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Paying the muni-meters is going high tech in New York City.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is set to announce plans that would allow drivers to pay for parking and add time at the city's 85,000 metered spots by using a cell phone app.

"No more fumbling for change or scrambling to the meter to beat a ticket," de Blasio said in a statement. "This is a 21st century upgrade that is going to make parking a lot more convenient."

"Pay-by-cell offers New York drivers greater customer convenience and quality of life," said Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

The app is expected to roll out by the end of the year. 

The city said the new system will draw on the experience of a 2013 pilot program in the Belmont section of The Bronx that allowed drivers to sign up for the "pay by phone" app, CBS2's Andrea Grymes reported.

At the time, the program was supposed to roll out citywide by 2015.

Under the program, drivers enter their license plate number and credit card information on the app, and when they want to park they enter the location of the closest meter and their card is charged. A traffic agent would use a tablet to check if the parked car was paid for electronically.

The app can also notify you when your meter is about to expire, so you can avoid rushing back out to pay, Trottenberg told 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria.

Many drivers welcomed the news.

"If I just had an app and could sit in my car and do the transaction I think that would be really convenient and really easy," one woman said. 

"It can be convenient when it works; when it doesn't work you're caught," Ed Nelson of Harlem told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond.

"That's a smart move," said driver Robert Padalina. "It's very convenient for everybody and not only that, everybody is going to have comfortable, easy access to the meter."

Others are not so sure, worried it's another reason for people to be on their phones or stay parked for an extended period of time.

"People keep putting money in with your iPhone and then staying longer than the one hour or two hours that you're supposed to stay at the meter," one driver said.

According to the mayor's office, if you pay by phone you will not be able to pay for more time past the space's time limit.

Muni-meters will continue to accept coins, parking and credit cards, but drivers who use the app could get credit for unused time.

The mayor's office said the program will not cost the city any additional money since the DOT is developing the app through a no-cost contract, and the NYPD is already equipping the force with tablets.

"Working with the NYPD, we're going to start rolling this out in the summer and our hope is to have it all rolled out citywide by the end of the year," Trottenberg said.

De Blasio is expected to make the announcement during his state of the city address Thursday night.

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