Oakland gets NFC parking

Drivers in Oakland, California can now pay for their parking by tapping their NFC phone on any of the city’s on-street parking meters. After setting up an account with operator Parkmobile, drivers can immediately start using the system with their registered mobile phone. Neighbouring San Francisco offers a similar system operated by PayByPhone.

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2 comments on this article

  1. I must be missing something – are there an abundance of NFC phones in the USA? In the San Francisco implementation, they are using stickers. So is Parkmobile using stickers or they relying on a small scant number of NFC phones in the USA market?

    1. There soon will be an abundance of NFC phones, yes — certainly within the lifespan of the parking meters 🙂

      I don’t know for sure but I’d expect this system to use NFC tags stuck to the meters to provide a shortcut to an SMS or URL. I’d also expect to see a bunch of alternative ways of “paying” for those with non-NFC phones; it is just that NFC will be doing what it does best and making an existing process simpler, easier and much more streamlined.

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