Drivers frustrated by pay parking in Edmonton since app change

Nine months after the City of Edmonton rolled out a new payment platform for public parking spots, some drivers continue to report problems.

The city announced in early April it would be moving to a new mobile payment system for EPark at the end of that month, saying in a news release that HotSpot Parking would be simpler and faster for customers to use. A new app, replacing MyEPark, which was hosted by Calgary Parking since 2015, became available in May.

Since then, complaints related to the transition and user interface have been circulating among drivers and on social media platforms.

"There are so many user experience issues with Hotspot — we've been hearing about them since day one," said Puneeta McBryan, CEO of the Edmonton Downtown Business Association.

A majority of EPark zones in the city are located downtown 

McBryan said she has heard reports of general frustration with the app, plus problems with it not saving payment information, so people have to put in credit card information over and over again. The company that runs the app says customers only have to register their payment information once with a full account.

"Generally it works for me, but sometimes it doesn't load correctly," McBryan said.

David Dorward, a former MLA and a chartered accountant who works in an office south of Whyte Avenue, said HotSpot doesn't seem to recognize his location.

"If you hit the button saying 'I need to know what zone I'm in,' it'll simply take you to a map of the zones, whereas EPark used to identify where you are and put that in for you," he said. 

Since the transition, he also noticed that it was no longer possible to park for longer than two hours in a zone via HotSpot, even after moving to a different parking spot in the zone.

Though the city's two-hour policy has long been listed on signs, McBryan said, the app is now enforcing it. 

She said the limit encourages turnover, freeing up spots for people visiting businesses, but it has been confusing for people.

Sam Jenkins, managing partner at the software company Punchcard Systems, also told CBC News he has experienced friction as a HotSpot user. 

"There have been a couple of moments when I've gotten parking tickets that I really think I could have avoided if the user experience had been a bit more geared towards supporting me as a user and as somebody who wants to pay for parking," he said. 

In one case, he recalled receiving a ticket after not clicking "confirm" twice in the app. 

HotSpot awarded contract

HotSpot Parking Inc., a product of the design firm Arcadis, was the successful bidder for $2.5 million on the four-year contract with the City of Edmonton.

In the April news release, Jenny Albers, the city's general supervisor of planning and permitting, said the company "had a lot of what we were looking for in a service," with "extensive experience across the country."

Albers told CBC News in an email in November that the HotSpot app was working smoothly and the city's team had successfully processed 3,500 refunds for people with balances in closed MyEPark accounts.

In an email last month, Albers said the app has not had any service outages or crashes and the number of general information parking inquiries sent to the city has steadily declined since its peak in April.

Company incorporates feedback

Phillip Curley, head of HotSpot, said in an emailed statement that the app has a 4.6/5 rating on the Apple App Store. 

He said the company offers robust customer support and tracks customer queries through an automated system. Feedback is reviewed and incorporated into regular new releases of the app, he said.

Curley said the number of customer queries has tapered off since the app launched in Edmonton.

Ward O-day'min Coun. Anne Stevenson said she has heard some HotSpot-related concerns but appreciates some of the new app's features.

"In the previous EPark app, you could start a parking session and then end it whenever you were done," she said. 

"I hated that feature because I would always forget to end my session and I would end up paying for eight hours of parking when I had only been there for an hour."

Albers said the city consistently reviews the app and meets with the company regularly to discuss customer feedback and potential improvements. 

"Ultimately this feedback from Edmontonians is really important for us to refine, make sure that it can serve everyone as well as possible," Stevenson said.