Whitehorse parking meters now accept payment via app

Change has come to downtown Whitehorse. Which is to say — there may be less of it.

The City of Whitehorse started using a parking app on Monday that allows drivers to pay for parking meters using their phones, rather than with loonies and quarters.

HotSpot Wallet allows people to pay for their spot, to receive alerts, to remotely top up meters and to reuse unused time at different locations. Although your time won't show up on the parking meter itself, bylaw officers can scan your license plate to see if you've paid. 

People who use the app will be charged a 25-cent convenience fee each time they use it, but frequent users can buy a monthly subscription for $2 or an annual subscription for $20, the city said. 

The three-hour time limit remains the same. The price of a ticket for those caught going over their time remains the same as well. 

Residents can also still opt to pay using coins — something visitors to the downtown were glad of Tuesday. 

Jenna Dhillon typically uses quarters. As the landlord of a building with coin-operated laundry, she said she always has change in her pockets. However, she says she can see how the app could be useful. 

Dhillon said her husband rarely has coins, and there are also coins the parking meters don't accept. Because of that, she said, she'll likely download the app. 

Beverly LeClair, who was putting coins into a parking meter on Main Street on Tuesday afternoon, said the new app is a "great thing." 

"I mean it's technology right? So that's good." 

But LeClair did worry for people who may not have access to phones, or the tech-savvy required to set up the app. 

"I feel for the seniors who won't know how to do that," she said.

LeClair said she'll download the app for its convenience, but she's still going to keep coins on-hand.