Dewey Beach welcomes “ParkMobile” app

Andrew Vogt drives to Dewey beach quite a bit. He lives in Pennsylvania, but visits his parents in the beach town.

Vogt knows like many other visitors, parking during the busy months can be a headache.

Vogt says, “During the summer everyone’s just driving around trying to find a parking spot. The whole meter thing down here with the quarters, everyone needs to find quarters and it’s a real pain.”

Dewey Beach Town Commissioner Courtney Riordan says, “Every year I would walk over to the bank and get two rows of quarters every spring in anticipation of needing to put quarters in meters.”

This summer, the town is trying to ease the parking drama with the introduction of the ParkMobile app.

The app is completely free, can be downloaded onto any smart phone, and allows drivers to pay for metered parking through the app. The app will even alert your phone when the time is about to run out.

Steve Bowers works at a local restaurant in Dewey Beach, “I think it’s gonna help alleviate a lot of people getting tickets. It’s going to keep people in the restaurants instead of running out feeding quarters constantly. It’ll just be easier for everybody.”

By plugging your license plate number into the app, apparently meter maids can easily check to make sure you’re paid up.

Currently, the parking meter rates in Dewey Beach are a $1.50 an hour. However, ParkMobile charges users an additional fifty cent fee for each phone transaction.

However town leaders, business owners, and locals we spoke with all believe the convenience factor is priceless; especially for those out on the beach or in a restaurant who dread having to checking on a meter.

Considering how much you’ll have to pay if the time lapses, fifty cents sounds much better than a $30.00 fine.

Riordan goes on, “We’re looking forward to more automation it’s the way of the future isn’t it?”     

Apparently, the app is also a cost savings for the town. No quarters means no need to pay crews to continually empty the meters.