Every year the city of New York issues about eight to ten million parking tickets. However, soon drivers may be able to use their smartphones to pay their fines instantly with cryptocurrencies or mobile apps.
New York City’s finance department is looking into alternative payment methods such as Bitcoin, PayPal and Apple Pay for the $600 million annual parking ticket revenue it collects from issuing up to 10 million tickets.
Apple Pay and PayPal are accepted at hundreds of thousands of retail locations, and both companies are expected to expand greatly in 2015. More businesses are starting to accept these new payment options, including Overstock.com and Microsoft, which now accept the digital currency bitcoin for certain online purchases.
At the current moment the parking bureau’s system is outdated and drivers currently pay for tickets online, in person at the courthouse or via mail. However, the online system is not friendly with mobile devices and credit and debit card payments could be charged with a 2.5% convenience fee.
The city also believes that offering mobile options could help cut down the fines that it racks up each year from penalties and base fines on unpaid violations, late fees for example start 30 days after the tickets get issued.
So far, the city has only put out a Request for Information due January 15, asking for details on possible mobile payment systems like bitcoin and PayPal. While the city believes that the new systems will be an improvement over what they currently use, they recognize they still have much to learn about the mobile tech market and whether adopting these systems will truly work.