Mobile payment option offered to Geneva daily fee parking customers

Starting Monday, Oct. 24, commuters and downtown Geneva visitors will be able to pay for their daily fee parking spot from the convenience of their smartphone.

Geneva will be launching "Passport," a parking payment app provider, at the city's Third Street commuter parking deck and Route 31 overflow parking lot. With the app, customers can create an account that loads funds using an online "wallet" feature linked to their debit or credit card.

The city moved forward with the mobile parking program in response to commuters requesting an electronic payment option. Daily fee customers will no longer be required to have exact change and can even pay from the train if they happened to forget to pay in advance at the cash box.

People using the app will continue to pay the normal rates of $2 at the parking deck and $1.75 in the overflow lot, morning commute to 5 p.m. weekdays, but app users will be charged a 37-cent convenience fee by "Passport" per transaction.

The manual cash payment boxes in the parking deck and parking lot will still be available for those who prefer to pay in person opposed to online. Timed on-street parking remains free for downtown Geneva patrons.

"Passport" is already available in 40 Chicago suburbs, including Evanston, Oak Lawn, Skokie and Oak Park. "Passport" also developed ParkChicago, Chicago's mobile parking application.

The "Passport" parking app is free to download from the iPhone App Store and Android Google Play. Users also can manage their parking accounts online at www.ppprk.com. Signage will be displayed in the parking deck and overflow lot to instruct users how to download and get started with the app.