By Jasmine Wu and Rowan Walrath, news staff
Bostonians who face parking tickets and fees now have a new way to pay them back: PayTix, an app launched Jan. 28, allows users to settle their dues with the City of Boston through their smartphones.
The free app is being introduced as a joint collaboration between the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, the Department of Innovation and Technology and the Boston Transportation Department in partnership with Xerox.
“The new PayTix app is another example of how we’re using technology to make city government more efficient and effective for the people of Boston,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh said in a Jan. 28 press release. “We’ve seen through other city initiatives, such as ParkBoston and 311, that mobile apps are a great tool, and we look forward to continue finding new ways to utilize technology to improve basic city services.”
When a motorist receives a parking ticket, they can scan the barcode on their phone or enter the ticket number manually to begin the payment process, according to Boston Magazine. The free app is available for both Apple and Android phone users, and it includes both an alert system to help avoid late fees and a feature that tracks personal parking ticket history.
The mayor’s office launched a similar initiative in January 2015 in the form of ParkBoston, an app that allows drivers to pay for parking meters with their phones. An April 2015 WBUR article reported that by the end of summer, drivers would be able to pay for parking at all of Boston’s 8,000 meters with the app.
Before PayTix was introduced, Boston residents with parking fines had to go to the City of Boston website in order to pay their dues
Northeastern students and alumni lauded the app’s convenience.
“Place along Parker Street,” Chingkit Chan, a former biology student who graduated from Northeastern in 2015, said via Facebook message. “Paid online. No troubles. Took five minutes.”
Derek Ma, a senior pharmacy major, had a similar experience.
“I parked at a meter after 8 o’clock, guess that’s bad residentially,” Ma said. “On the ticket, they had a website online, so I just went and paid there. It was pretty streamlined. I think it [PayTix] would be convenient, especially with everything being mobile.”
Photo by Robert Smith
