Posted on 01/03/2019 8:02:08 PM PST by yesthatjallen
Cindi Eckis doesn’t have a smartphone, and she doesn’t want one.
“It makes my life simpler,” the Cheektowaga retiree said.
But sticking with her flip phone will make it tougher for her and other low-tech motorists to find a place to park along some streets of downtown Buffalo.
A new parking policy being rolled out by city officials adds parking zones where the only way to pay to park is through the Buffalo Roam parking app.
Blue "Pay by app only" signs went up earlier this week on Cobblestone District streets. "Pay from your phone," the signs read. "Download Buffalo Roam."
Eckis doesn't understand why someone should have to carry a smartphone to park on some downtown streets.
“I just don’t want to live in the Matrix,” she said Thursday.
Last week, the Buffalo Common Council unanimously approved Mayor Byron W. Brown’s “Downtown Parking Access Plan. The plan included doubling of metered parking rates to as much as $2 an hour, ending free parking on weeknights and weekends and adding hundreds of new paid street parking spots. The parking plan was met with an uproar of criticism, with more than 21,000 people signing an online petition started by a downtown restaurant worker protesting the changes.
On Wednesday, city officials offered something of a compromise — allowing free street parking to continue on weeknights and weekends when there are no major concerts, shows or games at major downtown venues.
The Buffalo Roam app debuted in May 2017. The idea was to provide a convenient way to pay at all of the city’s 3,900 on-street paid parking spots. The app also warns users when their time is about to expire with a text message 15 minutes before time runs out and gives them the ability to extend their parking sessions from their phones.
The app prompts users to input their credit or debit card information to pay the parking costs, along with an additional 10 cent fee.
Parking Commissioner Kevin Helfer acknowledged the Roam-only zones exclude some motorists.
"We don't have a system that can be everything to everyone all the time," Helfer said during a news conference at the corner of Perry and Mississippi streets Thursday.
Most people have smartphones, Helfer said. About 77 percent of Americans own a smartphone, according to a study released in February by the Pew Research Center. And for those people, the app is far more convenient than having to remember to carry around quarters or walk back and forth to a pay-and-display machine down the block to get a parking receipt.
ETC...
And if their app is hacked to steal your payment information, they’re less accountable than if your Apple Pay account is hacked. At the same time, they’re less concerned about security than private companies.
You’re free to walk, ride share, bike, bus
Lawsuit time.
Coming. Demands for a smartphone for all as an entitlement. You’ll be paying for a smartphone as well as the EBT cards.
You lack vision. That gratis smartphone would replace the EBT card. Pay by smartphone, coming to a country near you...
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