Muni officials demonstrated the new "pay-by-cellphone" method. It works on parking meters with the special sticker. Smartphone users can download an app to pay the fees. Those with regular phones can still call a toll-free number to pay the rate. The system also sends drivers text messages to warn them the meter is about to expire.
"What we want is compliance with the parking regulations not to catch people up in it. So in other words, we want people to feed the meters, to obey the rules, so that we don't have to give them a ticket," said SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin.
San Francisco is also the first city in the nation to implement NFC technology. It lets drivers with special phones pay the meter by simply tapping it on a special sticker. The app is called "Pay By Phone."
