PayByPhone parking is nearing Lynbrook launch date

People parking in Lynbrook will soon have the option to pay for parking via smart phone app PayByPhone instead of using quarters to pay for meters in the village.
PayByPhone Sales Director Adam Kriegel said that by mid-September, residents could download the PayByPhone app from the App Store or Google Play Store and use it to pay to park in a metered spot with a credit card or Apple Pay. The app will not replace the meters, but will serve as an alternative for drivers.
“We are not removing the ability to use coins,” Kriegel said. “We’re trying to make it easier.”
Once the app is opened, users will be able to add a vehicle by entering a license plate number, the state their car was registered in and the type of vehicle they drive. They will also have the option to add a photo and a description of the vehicle. That information could then be stored in the app.
Each of the more than 600 metered parking spots in the village will also have decals listing the spot’s location number, which would have to be put into the app. Drivers would then be able to select how long they would like to park, and could watch as the time counts down. If a user needs to add more time, he or she could do so remotely, without having to return to the meter.

“Residents and visitors of the Village of Lynbrook should download the app because it provides convenience,” Mayor Alan Beach said in an emailed statement to the Herald. “How many times are you running late on the train and can’t feed the meter? Now you won’t have to worry.”
To monitor parking in the village, Lynbrook police officers will be able to integrate the system they use to track parking violations with the app. If a parking space is lit in red on a device, it means the time has expired. If it is green, the driver has paid for the time.
“It’s just a sea of rectangles, and they’re lit up green or red accordingly,” Kriegel told the Herald in May. “That tells police if there’s a valid parking session or not. They were happy to see that we were integrated with that.”
PayByPhone has already been linked to all of the meters in the village, and includes information about time restrictions at certain meters, Kriegel said. He said that when the app goes live, residents and commuters will be able to open the app anywhere within village limits, and it will recognize that it is in the village.
“It will be village wide and it will be anywhere people find the stickers,” Kriegel said.
He added that the stickers should be printed soon, and Beach said they would be applied to the meters by the end of the month.
PayByPhone was created in 2001, and originally offered patrons the ability to pay for parking via a phone call or a text message. It was acquired by Volkswagen Financial Services in December 2016, and has 17 million users. It garners $345 million in annual parking revenue and processes 70 million transactions per year in more than 300 cities, including Boston, Miami and Seattle. Last year, Tarrytown, in Westchester County, became the first municipality in New York to roll out the app. Lynbrook will become the first Long Island municipality to accept it, though East Rockaway and other areas have used a parking app called Whoosh!
The app is also used in cities across the world such as London and Paris, as well as in parts of Australia. Kriegel said that because those cities have more parking spots than Lynbrook, he is “super confident it will work.”

Mike Smollins contributed to this story.