Car owners in Cape Town’s CBD can pay for parking using local mobile payments startup SnapScan’s app as of today, with the City of Cape Town calling the app “easier and more convenient” than cash.
The city’s kerbside parking operator Street Parking Solutions (SPS) will be piloting SnapScan as an alternative payment method, with parking officials in the CBD to be equipped with SnapScan technology.
Parking officials will each have their own unique SnapCode, which a car owner must scan, enter in the amount they need to pay, and enter their PIN or fingerprint to approve the transaction. The parking official will receive an SMS to their dedicated SnapScan mobile device, from which they will print a receipt.
“SnapScan has always been about simplifying payments,” said Kobus Ehlers, co-founder of SnapScan.
“Street parking was a natural fit, since we could see the app adding value for both users and the marshals themselves. For users especially, this removes the need to fiddle with small change or rush to draw money when all they want to do is go about their business in the CBD.”
Parking officials equipped with SnapScan technology will wear a SPS bib displaying the SnapScan logo for easy identification. SPS said the technology will be rolled out to all parking attendants should the pilot scheme prove successful.
Both the City of Cape Town and SPS said SnapScan promises to make payments for parking much simpler, and more efficient.
“We spend a lot of energy managing all the small change that people use to pay for parking. We were looking at ways to simplify this process, but then we discovered SnapScan and decided it would be better to work together with an existing payments ecosystem that customers are familiar with,” said Josh Lindenberg, of SPS.
“There is clearly a security benefit for the motorists and the parking marshals as well, because with SnapScan less cash will be handled on the street. Furthermore, the City supports this pilot scheme as it will assist us to improve the management of kerbside parking in the CBD and to create a city that is well-run and efficient,” said Councillor Brett Herron, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member at Transport for Cape Town.
Designed by FireID Payments in Stellenbosch, SnapScan launched in partnership with South Africa’s Standard Bank.
On downloading the app, users link their SnapScan account to a bank account – with credit cards and some debit cards from most banks operating in South Africa accepted.
The service has already been adopted by over 14,000 businesses country-wide for receipt of payments, with uptake highest in the Western Cape.
