No Parking Change? Silver Spring Now Offers Pay-By-Cell

Paying for meter parking in Silver Spring no longer means the mandatory digging for quarters—instead, you can pick up your cell phone.

Pay-by-Cell parking is now available at 4,500 meters throughout Silver Spring. Montgomery County announced completion of the Silver Spring rollout, joining Bethesda whose program was completed in March. Expansion to Wheaton, Montgomery Hills and North Bethesda will be finished by summer.

The new cell program may come in handy, as parking rates are set to soon go up. The Montgomery County Council last week approved a parking fee increase of 10 cents an hour. The new rate will first take effect in Bethesda, starting July 1, followed by Silver Spring in January of next year.  The just-approved plan also increases the cost of monthly parking passes in Silver Spring garages by $18 to $113 per month.

As reported by The Examiner, the agreement came after long debate and protests and of both Silver Spring and Bethesda businesses. Council members said they felt parking fees needed to be raised due to fears that reserve funds, which pay parking garage debts, have dropped too low.  The fee increases are projected to bring in $350,000 Silver Spring in fiscal year 2012.  The county budget is to be formally adopted on May 26.

To start using pay-by-cell, register online at www.mc.goparknow.com, or call 301-830-7074 to set up an account. After that, when parking follow the step-by-step instructions printed on each meter:

• Call 301-830-7074 from a cell phone, or send a text message to 32075;
• Follow the phone or text instructions to enter the meter location number (from the decal, on each meter);
• Select the amount of  parking time wanted.

A voice or text message then confirms the parking session has started. Users will also receive a text message warning letting them know when parking is about to expire and the time can be extended, if wanted.

Unlike a parking meter, users can stop the parking session early so they won't be charged for unused time. But the service itself isn’t free – there's a 35-cent transaction fee, in addition to parking—and you can still get a parking ticket if you stay beyond the meter’s posted time limit.

The pay-by-cell system is operated by MobileNOW!, a Rockville-based company the county contracts to run the program.