If you’ve ever driven somewhere on a jampacked weekend night, you know that finding parking in Memphis can be difficult.
An expanded partnership, however, could make the process easier.
In March 2021, the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC), the City of Memphis, and Premium Parking — the parking operator here — entered a partnership with ParkMobile, which provides smart parking and mobility solutions in the U.S. The group began with a pilot program in parts of Downtown and the Edge District and hoped to promote the turnover of parking spaces for local businesses, while offering drivers a convenient way to pay.
That pilot seems to have shown benefits because the partnership has been expanded, with the contactless payment system now available at over 1,500 on-street parking spaces around the city.
"We initially launched our mobile payment pilot program with ParkMobile and Premium Parking to gauge the public reception to mobile payment parking systems in the City of Memphis,” said Randall Tatum, Memphis' administrator and city traffic engineer, in a press release. “We have been very pleased with the public acceptance of this payment platform and are excited to expand our partnership citywide.”’
ParkMobile is available on Apple and Android devices and can be accessed in a web browser for those who don’t want to download the app. To pay for parking — using either the mobile app or browser — you enter the zone number posted on signs around the parking spot; select the amount of time needed; and touch the “Start Parking” button to begin the session. You can also extend a parking session from your phone. In addition to this, the app lets you reserve parking both at stadium venues and in parking garages, according to the release.
Currently, ParkMobile has 31,000 users in Memphis and more than 30 million users nationwide. In Tennessee, it’s available in Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville; and throughout the Southeast, it’s used in cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, New Orleans, and Charlotte.
