Downtown Lafayette is great but, parking in downtown is usually a daunting task for those who occasionally visit. However, parking in the district has gotten just a little bit easier in regards to how you pay for and manage your parking time.
Enter, ParkMobile, a mobile friendly, digital way to pay for time parked. The app, available for Apple & Android devices, allows you to create an account with your car’s license plate. Once you’re in the app, you can view “zones” which are grouped parking spaces under one single numerical identifier. These zone groups encompass most, if not all, of downtown Lafayette’s available public parking spaces including the parking garages & metered spaces. Once you have found your desired parking space or the one you could actually find, you’ll open the app, scan the QR or enter the “zone” number posted on the space, select the desired amount of time needed, and then follow through with payment right in the app. That’s it. From there, if you are stuck in a meeting that is lasting longer than expected or if you are just a chatty Kathy(sorry Kathy), then you can just pay for more time right in the app without having to run back to the meter. Now that is probably the best part of all!
To give you guys an accurate post, we went into downtown to pay for parking with ParkMobile. Below, you’ll see a few screenshots of our experience with the app. It was really an easy, breezy, B.E.A.utiful experience.
A couple of things to note though, the meter that you park at will not reflect that you paid for parking nor will it show your remaining time. Just know, that if you use ParkMobile correctly, those pesky meter maids will have your information and you will be safe from a parking fine. Unless you like to pay more than a couple bucks for parking, then by all means get that ticket. Also, you can still use coins and cards at metered spots. ParkMobile is just another option to use to pay.
Get the (Apple) ParkMobile App here — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/parkmobile-find-parking/id365399299 and for our few Android people — https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sharewire.parkmobilev2&hl=en_US&gl=US
In the first screen shot, you can see that we selected the zone in which to park, zone 21218, located at Parc San Souci.
We selected our desired time, 12 minutes, which is the least amount of time available for a total of $.45. If you’re a first time mobile parker, the next screen is a congratulatory message.
Then the next screen, for us, was a promotional message for their membership tier. See below.
And yes, we spent all of the time we paid for to grab photos and other information. But it’s really cool. I like having the parking time remaining available at my fingertips.
