Pay-By-Cell Parking Expansion Announced

Sick of worrying about where you’ll get all those quarters you need to park in downtown Bethesda?

Parking is expected to get a bit easier now that the pay-by-cell parking program – first piloted with 1,250 Bethesda meters in January of 2010 – has now expanded to include all 5,250 Bethesda meters. By summer, the pay-by-cell option will also be available at meters in Silver Spring, Wheaton, Montgomery Hills and North Bethesda for a total of 11,000 meters.

The rollout to all Bethesda meters has been ongoing for the past few months, but County Executive Isiah Leggett officially announced the expansion Thursday at a press conference atop the Bethesda-Elm parking garage, where the program saw its inception. “Pay-by-cell parking is a very convenient way for us to enhance the quality of the parking experience,” Leggett said.

It's also low-cost for the county, he said.

Users can sign up by visiting www.mc.goparknow.com or calling 301-830-7074 and setting up an account with a credit card. After they’re registered, parkers can call 301-830-7074 or text 32075 and follow voice prompts to select the amount of time they want to park.  If a parking session is about to expire, they’ll receive a text message warning and can choose to extend the session. If they decide to end the parking session early, they won’t be charged for the extra time – unlike at a meter.

The service isn’t free, however. Parkers are charged 35 cents per transaction, and they must still adhere to the time limits on meters – parkers who stay past two hours in a two-hour spot will still be eligible for a parking ticket.

Residents have long complained of the inconvenience of carrying quarters to feed the many meters in Bethesda, and of the $45 parking tickets that are the penalty for overstaying the parking time.

At the conference, County Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) said the program would make life easier for Bethesda residents and visitors. “We want them to enjoy a good meal and not have to worry in the middle of that lovely meal whether they’re getting a parking ticket,” Berliner said.

There’s even a brand new iPhone app to make paying for parking easier.

Since the launch of the pilot program in Bethesda, 11,500 people have registered for the program and have used their cell phones to pay for about 110,000 parking sessions, according to a county news release. The technology is administered through MobileNOW!, a Rockville-based company that contracts with the county.

Officials said they hoped the program would help reduce the number of parking tickets issued in Bethesda.

“We want to make it so people don’t have to pay parking fines – people go beserk when they get a parking ticket,” Berliner said. “Now it’s possible to say you can avoid that so easily, just by picking up the phone.”