Philadelphia’s popular parking app MeterUp is no more. NBC10’s Matt DeLucia tells why the Philadelphia Parking Authority kicked the parking payment app to the curb.
If you're hoping to pay for street parking in Philadelphia with your smartphone, you're now out of luck. The Philadelphia Parking Authority has shut down its mobile payment app.
MeterUP, the mobile payment service, was impounded at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
PPA officials said the company that designed and maintains the app, Pango USA, is having financial difficulties and has been unable to pay its credit card processing service.
Pango USA, in a statement, said the company had been negotiating with the PPA to collect additional funds through the service. Under the agreement, Pango USA charged a $0.01 convenience fee on each meter payment through the app. When the two groups couldn't agree, they decided to shut the app down.
Drivers can still use credit cards for parking payment at the large green kiosks, as well as cash and coins.
Clarena Tolson, the PPA's executive director, apologized for the shut down calling the decision "unavoidable."
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The app was launched in November 2015. It is heavily-promoted on PPA property with signs and stickers for the app posted on parking kiosks and parking signs.
Pango USA was sold in October 2016 and then began to run into financial trouble, the PPA said.
Tolson said the parking authority is putting out a request for proposal to replace Pango USA as the service provider, but believes it could be several months before a new company is brought online.
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