Crest, North Wildwood Might Join Wildwood’s Pay-By-Cell

WILDWOOD — This city’s Five Mile Beach neighbors might join it in allowing visitors to save their pants pockets from quarter overload by punching a few buttons on their mobile phones to pay for metered parking spots.
On Thur., July 1, Mayor Gary DeMarzo and Wildwood’s pay-by-cell Project Manager Katie Ferrara, a city intern, held a ribbon-cutting, kickoff event on Atlantic between Burk and Montgomery avenues. The new system is administered by iControl, of Rockville, Md.
According to a city flyer explaining the system, when the meter is activated, parkers automatically have eight hours. When leaving, they can stop the clock and pay only for the time used. If time is nearing expiration and they want to keep the spot, parkers can call renew their meter time from a restaurant, their beach blanket, a carousel or anywhere.
“Along with making things easier for individual parkers, mobile payment also is expected to greatly decrease the time that vehicles remain in spaces beyond their maximum limit,” DeMarzo said in a release. “During busy summer months, that means greater turnover of spaces as well.”
Wildwood sees this program not only as a convenience for visitors, but also a way to increase revenues in city coffers.
In a few easy steps, Wildwood parkers can use their cellular phones to pay for metered spots at (609) 849-8928. Visitors can pre-register to use the system in a couple minutes from any computer by visiting iControl online at www.cellparkingusa.com. They can also register by phone, but Ferrara said that takes a little longer.
At a Wed., July 7 Wildwood Crest meeting, Borough Clerk Kevin Yecco said he spoke with North Wildwood Administrator Ray Townsend regarding the pay-by-cell issue.
“Mr. Townsend asked if we would consider adopting the pay-by-cell parking,” Yecco said.
Yecco said borough commissioners wanted to review the program before deciding to adopt it or not.
According to Yecco, Wildwood pays an administrative fee for the service. If Wildwood Crest and North Wildwood sign on, the municipal fees would be waived, Yecco said.
“We’re in the exploration phase,” Townsend told the Herald. “We’ll probably wait and see how Wildwood does with the program, especially the enforcement side of it.”
“But anything that makes life easier for our visitors, is worth consideration,” he added.
Parking enforcement of iControl’s system is simple, according to the company’s website.
Municipalities can enforce parking by using any web-enabled, handheld device, browse the street, zone or entire neighborhood to determine which spaces have been paid for using Cell Parking™. Supervisors can give your officers access to the whole municipality or just the zone he or she is patrolling. In pay and display settings, towns can also confirm that the car in the space is the one that paid for it by verifying the license tag number. That number will be visible on the secure, assigned website.
If enforcement is as easy and effective as the company describes, perhaps sometime soon, all Wildwoods visitors will be able to feed hungry meters with phone calls instead of 25-cent pieces.
Ferrara, a graduate student at Rutgers University, Camden, said that 625 people have used the system in Wildwood, as of July 6. The city offered a free first-time parking use for visitors that expires on July 16.
While initial feedback to the program has been mixed, Ferrara said overall people’s reaction has been positive.
“I spoke with one motel owner who thought the program would be a great convenience for her guests,” Ferrara said. “She was very excited about it.”
“But there are some who like the old way,” she added.