No change, no problem: Haligonians will soon be able to pay for parking by phone

Paying for parking is about to get a lot easier in Halifax Regional Municipality.

Starting Monday, instead of digging around for change, residents will be able to use the HotSpot parking app at municipal meters.

The app is managed by a third-party Maritime-based company, it is subscription based and there will be a monthly or annual fee to use it.

Users will need to enter information like their name, phone number and vehicle details.

Municipality spokesperson Nick Ritcey said it's all about convenience.

“You can now receive a mobile notification that tells you when your meter is close to expiring, and that gives you the option of adding more time in that parking space, up to the maximum.”

He said there's also an option for anyone who has paid for more time than they need.

“So, if you go into a location for half an hour, but you've paid for two hours on your meter, you can actually end your session and be refunded for that extra hour and a half.”

Waterfront Development will also use the same app for all of their parking lots.

Anyone who would rather pay for parking the old way, that's still an option, meters will continue to accept coins.

Ritcey said people will start to see stickers being put on meters as of Saturday, with the full service rolling out Monday.