Motorists may soon be able to pay parking fees on their mobile devices instead of having to tear paper coupons, as the authorities run tests on a new mobile application as part of the Smart Nation push.
The application, developed by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Housing and Development Board (HDB) and the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech), will be tested among public-sector officers this month and next month at selected public car parks which use paper coupons in the city, TODAY reported on Monday.
The plan is to roll out the trial to the public later this year, the agencies said in a press statement.
The app, they said, will raise convenience for motorists, obviating the need to return to their vehicles to replenish coupons to extend their parking.
Its features include enabling motorists to punch in their vehicle number, choose a car park and indicate the duration for which they want to park. The app calculates the parking fees automatically, based on the length of time the car is parked on a per-minute basis. A refund will be given if motorists decide to leave the car park earlier.
The app also allows motorists to monitor the validity of their parking session, and they may extend this at any time.
The initial trial will involve putting the app through the motions, particularly its payment module, to be “confident of its robustness” before the public test is rolled out. “With the feedback gathered from the trial, the agencies will improve the app for better user experience,” the URA, HDB and GovTech said.