Visitors to the Duke University campus can now pay for parking directly from their smartphone thanks to a new mobile app.
According to a report from Duke Today, the university has chosen to launch PayByPhone in an initial 12 parking lots across campus, with an additional parking lot to be added at a new alumni and visitor center once that facility it open to the public.
The app is intended to help campus visitors, as well as Duke employees and students who want to park in either hourly or daily parking lots. Drivers can still elect to pay for parking at coin meters or machines at each lot, but the mobile app will now serve as another means to pay.
“Adding PayByPhone around campus gives our guests a convenient option for payment in lots that sometimes only have just one form of payment,” said Andrew Hinz, senior operations manager for Duke Parking & Transportation Services, in a Duke Today interview.
PayByPhone has established a growing user base in cities across the US, Canada and Europe. Additionally, the company has made inroads with higher education and is on the following campuses:
The app is available for free download from both the App Store and Google Play Store. Once dowloaded, users can begin parking immediately as a guest, or register for a PayByPhone account that securely stores their phone number, email, license plate and credit/debit card information for future parking visits.
Each parking lot at Duke will be assigned a designated number that users enter on their phones to pay for parking. Users can also enter the specific length of their parking time, as well as extend parking durations remotely through the app.