City, Metroplex consider new parking payment platform to replace Passport app
Loading...
Summary
Metroplex is evaluating a parking-management contract with Lasco (and its Glasgow payment technology) to replace the Passport mobile payment platform downtown; city staff discussed the customer-experience changes, kiosk retention and data/privacy questions, and said kiosk cash/coin service will remain.
Metroplex and city staff briefed the council on a proposed change in parking-management technology that would move the downtown parking system off the Passport app and onto Lasco’s platform (described in the meeting as Glasgow).
City parking staff and Dave Ocampo, representing Metroplex, said Lasco’s proposal includes a payment flow that allows customers to scan a QR code or use Apple Pay without installing a dedicated app, which staff said can simplify payment for occasional users. Metroplex has operated downtown parking since the early 2000s and uses vendor-managed off-street lots as well as on-street parking enforcement. Staff said kiosks would remain in place and continue to accept coin and credit; Metroplex-operated lots already accept cash in some locations. The transition would begin on off-street Metroplex lots in the fall and, with council approval of a management agreement, the city would target a Jan. 1 changeover for on-street parking.
Council members asked operational questions: whether the new system still allows a driver to add time, whether kiosks will remain coin-accessible, how data and payment information would be handled, and how signage and public outreach would be managed. Metroplex staff said the new platform would preserve enforcement workflows and user features (including adding time and receiving payment confirmations), and that Metroplex will coordinate signage and public education. Staff said they would check Lasco’s data/privacy policy before the city enters a management agreement.
No formal council vote occurred; the item was presented for discussion and staff said a draft management agreement would return to the council for review following Metroplex’s board action.
