Hoboken switching to ‘pay by plate’ parking system

HOBOKEN – Residents and commuters parking in the mile square city may have recently noticed something different about meters: keyboards.
The city is currently in the process of switching to a “pay by plate” parking system, city officials confirmed.
As part of the new system, drivers would type their license plate number into the meter, insert the payment, adjust the time and take a receipt – no longer requiring one to place a ticket on the dashboard.
“Paying by plate has several advantages,” said City spokesman Juan Melli. “For example, once you pay at the meter, you will not have to return to your car to place the receipt on the dashboard. Using a pay by plate system will also allow us to implement a pay by phone application which will make it possible for drivers to pay for parking and add additional time on the meter directly from a mobile application.”
Over the past few days, the city has been installing the keyboards. Although hardware is already in place, the city will next work to test the new software over the coming weeks and expects to make the permanent change by the end of the year.
Once the pay by plate system is up and running, Melli added, the city will look to implement the pay by phone app.
Additional information such as the cost of the change was not immediately available.