Why can't we use our smartphones to pay for parking in Chapel Hill?

I know that the new pay stations have the capability to pay by phone, so I think that it's just a question of setting up the service. I'm not sure how much that would cost, though.

The Daily Tar Heel reports the Town is working on implementing the system and hopes to get it running by early this summer at the latest. --> http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2012/02/parking_will_be_pa...

 I don't like to toot my horn too often, but I'm responsible for your being able to have pay stations at all. A former (very former) council member groused for years about not having parking meters that could accept credit cards, and somehow nothing ever came of it. I'm in the habit, during state legislative sessions, of looking for introduced bills of interest to Chapel Hill. Late one night I came across a bill which would, for the first time, allow th use of something besides coins and "tokens" in NC parkingmeters. It was introduced by two folks who have parked in downtown Chapel Hill-- Senator Josh Stein (son of Adam and Jane) and Representative Grier Martin (son of DG and Harriet) It was on behalf of Raleigh, but was clearly applicable to any municipality. A couple of CH legislators said to go straight to Stein and Martin (both of whom I knew).  The "Raleigh parking meters" bill, with Chapel Hill included, passed easily.  Roger Stancil took it from there.  Ed Harrison

I received this RFP announcement from the town yesterday:

Q12-62 Pay-by-Phone Payment System

Posted Date:
2/16/2012 3:30 PM

The Town of Chapel Hill Business Management Department is seeking proposals from qualified firms to provide a cell phone or equivalent technology as a payment method for metered and lot parking within the Town of Chapel Hill. Proposals in response to this RFP will provide a system to offer the general public the option to use their cell phones or similar technology as a way to process payments while utilizing a pay parking space within the Town of Chapel Hill. The Town of Chapel Hill wishes to provide the parking public with the latest state-of-the-art technology in cell phone payment options. The Town expects that all respondents must respond to the entire Request for Proposals (RFP). Any proposals received by the Town of Chapel Hill that are not complete in their response will not be considered. One original and three copies, for a total of four (4) complete sets, plus one (1) electronic version, of the "Pay by Phone Parking Payment System Proposal" are required. Both hard copies and electronic version must be received by the Town on or before 4:00 PM EST on the RFP due date of March 9, 2012. Proposals received after the deadline will not be considered and will be returned unopened to the return address on the submission envelope. The outside of the submittal package must be clearly marked "Pay by Phone Parking Payment System Proposal". Send proposals to the following mailing and email address:

Town of Chapel Hill
Business Management Department
Attention: CoCo Hall
405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Email: chall@townofchapelhill.org

Questions regarding the project must be submitted via email to Brenda Jones, Parking Superintendent at bjones@townofchapelhill.org no later than close of business on February 24, 2012 so answers may be formulated and distributed to all parties in advance of the proposal deadline. Responses to questions will be published to this web page in the form of an addendum no later than March 1, 2012.If you should have any questions on the bidding procedures, please contact the Purchasing Division at (919) 969-5025.Attachments

• Bid Documents 
• Addendum I