I’m in Erie for two days and need to park. Some parking meter apps are as simple as enter the meter number, select Apple Pay, touchid, you’re done. Meter EZ is like filling out a police report on a stolen car. You want my name, Phone number, Credit Card, Vehicle plate and as if said license plate number is not enough to identify a vehicle you also ask for vehicle make, model and color. Then CC registration (which I would prefer not to use) failed the first time. Second time it works but minimum charge is $10 ez meter credit in that I may never use most of. After paying the meter still says “0:00 EXPIRED” so who knows what the meter police will see. I’m all in favor of cashless metering but Meter EZ is the most invasive from a privacy perspective and least efficient from the functional perspective of any that I have used. (At least I didn’t have to sign up via email, I’ll give you credit for that.) I just don’t believe you really need all this information.As a side note, why do we have to 37 different parking apps anyway? Can’t you folks form the American Association of Apps for Paying Parking or something so we can just use an app we already have?
Hey Eclipse2024! Sorry to hear you've had a bad experience. We greatly appreciate your feedback, and I'd love to clear some things up:We would love to use Apple Pay, etc, but we unfortunately cannot due to their processing fees being too high. Our company only makes pennies on each transaction. We are always looking for ways to improve this, and will definitely use Apple/Google pay in the future if possible.Our card processor requires First and Last name in order to vault a credit card, so I apologize for that. We only ask for phone as your login method, but you can also log in via. Email, Apple and Google now! Also, the color/icons for your vehicle, etc are optional and are only there to help you identify your vehicles in the app as a convenience. You can simply skip over them.Also, we now have a simplified online version for users who are only in town for a couple days, and it doesn't ask for vehicle icons, names, etc. We've also re-stickered all the parking meters with QR codes for quick access: https://park.meterez.comRegarding the $10, this is only for the EZwallet, which is for frequent parkers to save a little bit of money on the processing fee. You do not have to load your wallet to park -- you can just use your card directly as your payment method. We are also always willing to refund the unused wallet money if you reach out via. support.The parking meters in most cities (including Erie) are not smart enabled, so they will not reflect digital parking payment, but the enforcers have a tablet that shows your parking session, so as long as your plate and space number are correct, you're good to go!As a final note regarding privacy, we only require the information we need, and we don't sell it or use it for anything other than helping with support requests.We know it's inconvenient to have to download multiple apps, but all parking companies are private companies with specific contracts with each city, so there's unfortunately no way to have only one app for this.We will be taking note of this feedback and using it to improve the app, so we really do appreciate your honest feedback! If there's anything else we can do, please reach out via. the support forms in the app!
