Rohan Naik Photo
Hausladen at Tuesday’s announcement.
New Haven has joined the likes of Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam in hosting competing parking application vendors.
On Tuesday, the city did that by launcing GoNewHaven, a parking app developed specifically for drivers in New Haven and the 3,000 metered parking spaces in town.
Passport, a Wilmington, Delaware-based company that focuses on software for the transportation industry, designed the app, which allows customers to quickly pay for parking, extend their session for free and keep track of their parking history. The app is available on the iPhone App Store and Android Google Play as well as this website.
“Instead of a vendor-based app, this is a city-based application that residents and vendors can trust,” Passport Regional Vice President of Sales Conor Kelly said a press announcement outside 200 Orange St. “This application helps both the convenience and price of parking.”
Khristian Gutierrez, chief business development officer at Passport, explains the app.
GoNewHaven joins Parkmobile as New Haven’s second parking pay-by-cell vendor. While GoNewHaven is an application designed specifically for the city, Parkmobile works in cities across the country.
New Haven residents can choose either app for convenience with parking. Transactions are virtual, and drivers are able to bypass the traditional paper tickets and meters. GoNewHaven users can also extend their parking stay from their phone for no additional charge.
Businesses set up their own account through Passport, and they disperse coupons based on how much parking they want to give away. Merchants retain validation codes that will subsidize, some, if not all of the parking fees.
“It’s known as a merchant validation or business inclusion program,” Kelly said. “The app allows businesses to control the dollar amount, the quantity, and length of time until expiration. They can then control how much parking they’d like to subsidize for their customers as a reward for doing business with them.”
According to city transit chief Doug Hausladen, the competition between two vendors drives down prices for customers.
While GoNewHaven is new, the city’s partnership with Passport is not. In 2015, Passport launched its citation management program, which allows parking enforcers to see real-time information and identify repeat offenders. It has improved both the efficiency and accuracy of citation issuance, and has increased revenue for the city by 10 percent.
As a result of the success of Passport’s parking enforcement program, the city decided to work with the company to address downtown New Haven’s parking woes. The GoNewHaven app will include citation technology as well, and users will have the ability to pay for violations in the app itself.
“We have consistently heard that parking is one of the number one concerns people have in coming downtown,” said Win Davis, the executive director of the Town Green Special Services District. “The app is helpful for both customers and businesses; the bottom line is that it’s getting easier and better to park here.”
Drivers will no longer have to fumble for quarters.
“Most importantly for us is getting a technology partner, Passport, in on the ground floor with our parking.” Hausladen said. “But we can launch off of that a technology platform, where we can link to our other programs — our Zipcar program, our electric vehicle charging program and others.”
Hausladen added that New Haven has long been a leader in parking innovation. For the City, New Haven’s reputation as a “smart city” is just beginning.
As a small business owner, I agree that parking phobia is one of the main reasons some people are reluctant to come downtown. Much thanks to Doug, for making is easier, and to NHI for publicizing it!