Google Pay adds digital wallet parking fee and transit options
This week Google Pay added a new wave of options for paying for parking fees and transit around the world. While it's likely Google had connections with the transit industry and local governments for parking fees in the works already, now (more than ever) it's high time these and other transactions moved away from the transfer of paper and metal money. With Google Pay on both Android and iOS devices, all the payments are digital.
Google Pay for Transit
Google Pay already worked with an array of public transit systems and private transit systems like Uber and Lyft. The latest update works with systems like the New York MTA, and mass transit aplenty with the digital Clipper card in San Francisco.
Google noted today that the ability to pay for transit in Google Maps with Google Pay will expand to "80 agencies globally" in Google Maps on Android "in the coming weeks." It's likely iOS will get a similar update relatively soon.
Meanwhile, an iOS update is "coming soon" for Google Maps that'll bring "pay for parking" to hundreds of cities across the USA. Android's Google Maps and Google Pay update starts to arrive today for 400+ cities in the USA for pay for parking.
Parking Meter Pay in Google Pay
To ramp up their parking game, Google's started working with Passport and ParkMobile. These digital parking zone payment systems will work with Google Pay and Google Maps in the very near future. Users will find a "Pay for Parking" button in Google Maps as they approach a parking spot – assuming said parking spot is the user's final destination.
The Pay for Parking button allows the user to enter a meter number, select an amount of time they expect to be parked at said meter, and pay for their parking time. This system also allows users to add time to their parking meter without needing to walk back to said spot to drop coins.