So not only do parking apps now exist, but they have truly become easier than cash
I park in the city center of Deggendorf in a parking space for which I would need a parking permit. I go to the machine and read the instructions. It only costs one euro for 90 minutes, but as has almost always been the case in recent years, I’m missing that euro. I happen to have a two-euro piece, but the machine doesn’t change.
There is a sign above the machine indicating that you can also use a parking app instead. Although I had bad experiences with parking apps in June 2021 and October 2021, there is no other way now. Besides, I have time right now and it doesn’t bother me that I will probably have to enter a lot of data and passwords and even better passwords and means of payment and other means of payment and wait for confirmation emails.
I get back in the car and download the “Parkster” app. I have to enter my email address, my phone number, my postal address and the license plate of the car. The app asks if I’m standing where I’m standing (it has my location data), and then I’m allowed to park.
Just like at the ATM, it only costs one euro and I didn’t have to enter a single payment method. Apparently you get an invoice once a month by email. You could also get them by post, but that would cost extra.
I will probably miss this email or it will be classified as spam. But apart from that, the process seems so simple and easy to use that I even recommend it to my mother later on. But she would rather stick with cash. It helps that she never parks at a parking meter anyway, but rather in the parking lot of her pharmacy. It requires special parking coins, but with 80 you need something from the pharmacy practically every day and you can get a parking coin with every purchase. That’s why the mother hoards a small treasure of parking coins in her backpack and will probably never have to pay for parking again.
(Kathrin Passig)