City of Akron launches mobile parking app

The City of Akron, Ohio, is relaunching metered parking after a year of free parking downtown.

Flowbird Group, a kerbside management and urban mobility solutions provider, has worked closely with the city’s parking operator, ABM Parking Services, to customise and test its mobility app in preparation for the reintroduction of payment for parking at the end of June.

Parking spaces

Akron has more than 1,000 parking spaces throughout its downtown core to service patrons visiting local shops, businesses and restaurants. In addition, the downtown is home to the University of Akron and Canal Park, the stadium for Akron’s minor league baseball team.

To manage parking occupancy in this environment, ABM utilises a mix of both Flowbird parking kiosks and single-space meters. With the launch of the Flowbird app, visitors will have an additional option of payment via their iPhone or Android devices.

Flowbird’s app allows downtown visitors to find and pay for parking without stopping at a pay station or meter. Users can opt-in to receive text notifications when time is about to expire and extend their time, the company reports.

Flowbird’s data hub also provides the City with block-by-block parking activity information, aggregating payments from the Flowbird pay stations and app into one central web-based system

The app features a map-based user interface, integrated with Waze and other navigation systems to guide users to their preferred parking location.

Flowbird’s data hub also provides the City with block-by-block parking activity information, aggregating payments from the Flowbird pay stations and app into one central web-based system.

Flowbird has partnered with two local Akron companies to help promote the Flowbird app. Ambassadors will be on-site the week of 28 June to perform a public outreach campaign, visiting with local merchants and the parking public to announce that the app is now available.

Some 125 cities and universities are using the app to help manage parking around the country, Flowbird claims, and globally, its mobile platform generates more than 50 million transactions a year.

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