Paying parking ticket practically painless with new Manchester NH Connect app
Parking tickets suck. But the new Manchester NH Connect mobile app makes it practically painless to pay up. I said practically!
I like to multi-task.
And as things happen in my world, when I have several things to do and lots of stops to make downtown, sometimes I underestimate how long it’s going to take me at a given stop.
Sometimes, I space and forget to feed the meter when I park my car to run in to the post office, especially if I pop in to Intown Manchester to say hi to Sara Beaudry and Julia Whitney. Or when I’m going to interview someone for a story.
Such was the case on Oct. 22, when I did both of those things.
And without looking even under my windshield wiper, I knew there would be a ticket waiting for me after I lingered inside Cafe la Reine while talking with Cory von Wallenstein about his new @getadored mobile app.
I grabbed the ticket as I got into my car and tossed it on the passenger seat with contempt as I drove to my next stop, mentally kicking myself for forgetting to put a parking pass on my dashboard (I’m refraining from investing in the EasyPark option because I just can’t justify paying additional fees for parking. At least, I’m not ready to cave to the convenient technology, just yet.)
But then I remembered that I could pay my ticket using the new Manchester, NH Connect mobile app, and that made me happy – in a twisted way.
I parked and fumbled for my debit card, and then got out my iPhone and selected the “Pay Online” option on the app and, within about five minutes, had paid my parking ticket.
Then, I got out of my car and paid another $1.50 at the meter so I could eat lunch at Taj India while I enjoyed a working lunch while posting some stories remotely on Manchester Ink Link on my laptop (and by the way, the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet is so righteous at Taj India. If you haven’t been, you really should.)
Yes, I resent the $10 parking ticket fee.
But like you, I’ve also “forgotten” to pay the ticket in a timely fashion from time to time, which leads to even more fees.
For me, the ability to easily pay the fine instantly somehow made the $10 hit to my wallet a little less painless.
I give the Manchester, NH, Connect app two thumbs up. And I give the parking division ticket police kudos for being so vigilant. They don’t miss a trick.
But I’m only human. So I will also continue to curse them out a little when I see that white paper under my windshield wiper, app or no app.
