Requiring an app to park my car is beyond stupid.

Putting metal tokens in a bucket is smart?

I prefer that to apps, yes.

Metal tokens that don’t change in functionality at the whims of a random VP at some private company?

Yes. High tech != smart.

The machine can offer credit/debit card payment as well.

Yep. Some rich dude’s company named something dumb doesn’t control my ability to park somewhere .

I can put quarters in the meter.

Yes, that’s correct. Secure, simple, standardized, predictable, robust. Adding a computer to the equation diminishes it in every single way.

You don't always have to optimize for smart.

Using coins or credit card is a far better experience downloading an app.

A nice middle ground is meters that take payment cards. That does exclude people who don't have them but most of those meters take apps as well, and the people who have neither a credit card nor a smartphone probably don't have a car either.

It is annoying though to have to install half a dozen different parking apps for the lots that have partnered with different app providers. It would be nice if public parking lot apps would interoperate.

What’s the difference between requiring users to pay via app vs requiring users to pay via payment card? Both require extra effort / extra knowledge / extra hardware to make the payment, beyond the “default” national currency

I think using a card is friendlier than using an app.

It takes fewer “clicks” so to speak and is more accessible to the elderly.

But anything government which doesn’t require to keep track of a purchaser’s identity should accept cash. Otherwise what’s the point of cash if your own state doesn’t accept it.

> using a card is friendlier than using an app

This is so obviously true for non-tech elderly folk that don't already have smartphones. I can hardly believe it's in question.

Card:

1. Receive free card from bank in mail.

2. Keep card in your wallet/purse which you already take every time you go out.

3. Memorise PIN (the tricky bit, to be fair).

4. Wave or insert card for payment.

Phone app:

1. Either find a phone shop and ask for help, or figure out how to securely buy a smartphone online.

2. Figure out how to set your phone up. This involves a lot of confusing decisions such as whether to create an apple/google account, which services to enable, etc... .

3. Learn how to search for, install, and use phone apps. The parking app will vary depending on where you choose to park.

4. Set up google/apple pay or your card payment details on required apps.

5. Learn how to connect your phone to wifi if you end up parking in an area with internet but no phone signal.

6. Remember to take your smartphone with you every time you plan to drive and park somewhere.

7. Muddle your way through what is often a bloated, ad-ridden app every time you want to park.

> Memorise PIN (the tricky bit, to be fair).

Not even that, for a credit card.

Card—specific info given on a need-to-know basis. App—all info broadcast to everyone all the time, often for sale. Requires hardware, power, data plan.

Everybody even the elderly have debit or credit cards. You have your card, you insert it, and walk away with two hours of parking.

An app often requires some account setup with spam emails to follow.

Shifting work from the people selling something (i.e. parking) to those buying it is not progress from the POV of the buyers.

How a particular change impacts you will, of course, strongly color your perception of it.

If you're someone who always has coinage readily available, forcing you to install an app and create an account on a device you may not have, or be familiar with, plus feeding said app an up-to-date payment method (accompanied by concerns of financial loss) and eating the cost of transaction fees is not going to be seen as progress.

If you never use currency and having coinage on hand is an extra effort, and don't mind installing and using yet-another-app on your current smartphone, then doing away with coins seems much less hostile.

And, of course, if you own/operate parking meters, reducing your own overhead is a win for you, as long as the meters keep getting used enough that your profits go up.

Which ends up actually benefiting the public more, I don't know.

My 2001 car has three little slots at the front inside of the center console for quarters, nickels, and dimes. Holds about 8-10 of each. Plenty of money for the occasional meter or small toll.

Why is it beyond stupid to allow payment using a currency without needing several layers of non-government middlemen (Apple and ParkMobile, for example)

Seems beyond stupid to require me to have an Apple program or a Google program and specific hardware to pay for parking when I can just have the coins in my pocket.

Especially since ParkMobile could just decide not to support the version of android I’m running, so that I’m forced to purchase a new device.

Coins aren’t subject to code rot.

A bonus is that meter toll collectors would have a job.