Why Saskatoon's parking app switch isn't sitting well with some

The transition to a new parking payment app in Saskatoon has led to some bumps along the road.

The city is switching from its current parking app, WayToPark, to a new app called Parkedin, which was rolled out on June 1.

“We've got one more month with the current WayToPark app, so that is still in effect now, but it'll be decommissioned at the end of June,” said director of community standards Matt Grazier.

But the new app has not been well received, with a one-and-a-half star rating on the Apple App Store, some scathing reviews on social media, and even newspaper editorials submitted by users in other Canadian markets that have tried it.

Criticisms include having to re-enter license plate and credit card information each time you want to park, consistent freezing and crashing of the app, and the amount of data the app collects from users such as Facebook account information and other data.

Grazier said he's aware of some of the early reviews the app's rollout is getting.

“We've had a number of comments from the app being released yesterday,” said Grazier.

“We do welcome that feedback and those comments so that we can communicate them to the vendor and hopefully work towards having a really solid app for our customers.”

Grazier says the city is under contract with a vendor for the app, and there is a quality assurance aspect to the transition that will include evaluation “throughout the next little while.”

“It wasn't a case where we did an extensive request for proposal process and arrived at this app or anything like that,” he said.

“This stems from the purchase of our parking pay stations back in 2016, so it was tied to functionality and then alignment in need for a phone app to utilize with the pay stations back in 2017.”

Ward 9 Coun. Bev Dubois says she’s already hearing complaints about the new app but has hopes it will make the parking experience better for residents.

“It's kind of beyond the city's reach at this point,” she said.

“It's the vendor that we've got and that we always take all questions and concerns into consideration and work with the vendor to ensure that it's the smoothest experience possible for our residents and the folks that are using the apps.”

Dubois says the information the app collects is concerning.

“To sort of voluntarily through an app, any kind of an app, (and) give your personal information, that's not something I would be doing,” she said.

“And I think most people feel that way. We have enough intrusions in our life with our information being out there that we don't need to add more.”