SPOKANE, Wash. — Paying for parking in Spokane is proving to be more difficult than necessary. It turns out people are having issues with the Passport Parking app.
Shannon Orlando parks on the street daily near the Spokane County Courthouse. She told KREM 2 over the last few months, the city's Passport Parking app won't take her payment.
"When you try to put in your information or try to pay, it just goes in an endless loop and you never get to pay," Orlando said.
She's not the only one. Many of her fellow co-workers have experienced the same.
"It can be really frustrating because you don't know that the problem is happening until you're already there," Orlando said. "So if you're running a little bit late or whatever that means you have to go find a place to get change."
Change is something she doesn't usually carry. That's because Orlando always relied on the parking app.
City of Spokane spokesperson Brian Coddington confirmed the city is aware of the issue and has received calls from affected customers. He said credit cards and coin payments are accepted as an alternative.
KREM confirmed that not all meters around the courthouse have card readers, or cards cannot be inserted at all.
Coddington admits meters near the courthouse are older. But adds, payment is still required for parking to avoid citations.
"If their app isn't working, and they know that it's 21st century--people don't carry change in their pockets all the time," Orlando said. "Then they shouldn't be charging people parking tickets."
It does not appear that there is a quick fix to the problem. But the city is in the process of engaging a new program that will allow people to use several different apps to pay for parking. That way they have different mobile options when one service is down, according to Coddington.