MOTU - Grand Rapids Parking 4+

I have used park mobile for years and loved it and found it easy to use. The city I live in just switched all it’s meters to MOTU and after just one week I am terribly disappointed and begging to have Park Mobile back. #1 with MOTU you have to enter a “zone” and a parking meter number. The “zone” is in such small print that you must get out of your car to read it in the meter. So if it’s snowing, pouring rain or your in a hurry this extra step is such a hassle. #2 I have had to pay for the entire meter time at each meter I have used so far with MOTU. (Maybe there is a different way but I have not found one) so if I park at a 3 hour meter but I know I will only be there one hour I must pay for the 3 hours. That’s so stupid. It’s enough of a reason for me to start carrying change and stop using the app all together. With park mobile one could “start” the meter and then “stop” the session which would stop the fee. With MOTU I have been charged the full amount of the meter and even when I “stop” my session before the meter expires I still pay the same amount.

I understand the city I live in must have found a way to get paid more by MOTU thank Park mobile was paying them but unfortunately MOTU Is a huge disappointment for the people actually using the app for parking.

This app is far inferior compared to park mobile. Unfortunately, I guess we have to live with it however. If we are going to do so, and the developers hopefully read these reviews. Here's a great piece of advice. Why must we enter a zone number which is so small on the little sticker that it can barely be read from the car. The large number at the top of the meter should be the number that is used which I guess is the space number. Again, park mobile made this much easier as they only required the space number. It doesn't make sense to have a zone number and a separate space number. Just run the Space numbers higher in sequence and get rid of the zone number. Come on Grand Rapids, you can do way better than this. Additionally, when you go to pay, there should be away on the app to get rid of all the options like wallet and validation coupon. And then when you finally select pay with card, I have one card listed, but it wants to verify that that is the card I'm going to use. Duh! If I only have one card listed, then that is the card I'm going to use. If I wanted the ability to add another card, thar should be in a separate menu.

The old parking app, ParkMobile, was MUCH easier to use. This app has a clunky UX, and takes longer to set up your parking spot – why do I need to type in two long numbers? It was also SO much more convenient to set a payment timer on ParkMobile and stop it when you leave, instead of having to choose from 15-minute increments ahead of time. Isn’t that the whole benefit of being able to use an app rather than feeding a meter? Also, it was nice to be able to use ParkMobile in other cities when traveling. As far as I can tell, Motu is only for Grand Rapids, and it’s annoying to have to use a different app for every city I ever go to. Should have just left it to the professionals at ParkMobile instead of trying to take it into your own hands, GR. Big ol’ thumbs down from this downtown resident.