You Can Now Pay Your Parking Tickets with an App

Boston Paytix, a new digital initiative from the city, is a free app that lets people pay tickets through mobile phones.

There’s a new way to pay parking tickets in Boston. Starting today, an app from City Hall called Boston PayTix is affording people with parking tickets the ease of paying their violations through their phones.

When a motorist receives a parking ticket, users can scan the barcode on the phone or enter the ticket number manually to begin the payment process. The free app is available for both Apple and Android phone users, and also includes an alert system to help avoid late fees and a feature that tracks personal parking ticket history. Think of it as a reminder to not do that again.

Boston PayTix was developed through a joint collaboration between the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, the Department of Innovation and Technology, and the Boston Transportation Department in partnership with Xerox.

“The new PayTix app is another example of how we’re using technology to make city government more efficient and effective for the people of Boston. We’ve seen through other city initiatives, such as ParkBoston and 311, that mobile apps are a great tool and we look forward to continue finding new ways to utilize technology to improve basic city services,” said Boston Mayor Marty Walsh in a statement.

The city initially partnered with TicketZen to develop an app, but the company decided to go in a different direction in November. The app saw steady growth during its pilot phase, with over 2,000 ticket payment transaction through the app each month.

“We were thankful to work with a local startup in TicketZen over the past year, and learned a great deal about the demand for these types of services available on mobile devices. We are excited to launch the next generation of this service in the Boston PayTix app, just one of the digital tools making life easier for both visitors and residents,” said Kris Carter of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics in a statement.