BOSTON. Drivers can already pay to park at meters on Newbury Street with their credit cards. Now, one city councilor wants to take it one step further.
Councilor John Tobin is calling for a hearing to discuss implementing technology to allow people to pay via text message. Tobin said drivers would set up accounts with payment information, phone numbers and license plates, and then they would text when they arrive and leave a metered spot into a service. That information would then be synched up with the city’s meter attendants equipment.
He said the service would operate much like the Fast Lane pass, where users have what they owe deducted from their accounts.
“Everybody has been in situation when you’ve been fumbling around for quarters,” he said. “Everybody has a cell phone, not everybody has a pocket full of quarters.”