Pango Mobile Parking, a pay-by-phone parking service, plans to debut in Washington, D.C., and in several cities in Maryland early this year, according to Pango head Dani Shavit. The Baltimore-based company will hire four to 15 people in each city to serve as its "street team" to introduce the service to the public.
Shavit says the people chosen for the street teams are usually local residents. Pango Mobile Parking has a staff of five employees and, besides the temporary street teams, is looking to hire an additional one to two employees to manage the new service areas.
Users sign up for the free pay-by-phone service, either via a downloadable application for smart phones or by calling a toll-free number. When users park on the street, parking lot or parking garage, they enter the area's designated zone number to activate parking charges. When they return, they stop the parking service and receive a bill from Pango for their parking time.
Pango identifies parking locations, offers promotions and discounts, and has a code that allows users to open and close parking gates from their devices. If users park in a limited-time area, they get a text message 15 minutes before the time expires.
Pango works on a city-wide basis with parking garages, local municipalities and state parking authorities. “We offer a revenue-sharing arrangement and a full management package. We have comprehensive solutions for municipalities and parking operators for both on-street and off-street parking,” says Shavit.
Pango was founded in Israel in 2005, where, according to Shavit, more than half of all parking on that country’s city streets is Pango-serviced. The company entered the European market in 2007, with service in Germany and Poland.
The privately funded Pango entered the American market in 2011 in Latrobe, Pa.
Additional reporting by Barbara Pash
Originally appeared at our sister site
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