Which parking apps do you need in South Florida? Who gets the money? Curious305 checks

Editor’s Note: This article was inspired by questions submitted from Miami Herald readers Nicky Zarchen and Barby Perego through Curious305, our community-powered reporting series that solicits questions from readers about Miami-Dade, Broward, the Florida Keys and the rest of the Sunshine State. Submit your question here or scroll down to fill out our form.

Hey, Curious305: Where does the money from PayByPhone/ParkMobile go? Does it go to our city or a privately owned company?

The days of checking your wallet (and under your couch cushion) for loose change to feed the meter during your next outing are mostly gone.

Many meters, parking lots and garages in South Florida accept credit cards or use parking apps now.

But don’t expect to use the same app everywhere you go.

Just like the various apps to send money to family and friends — Venmo, Zelle, Cash App — several parking apps are on the market. Which one you’ll need depends on where you go. And it can get confusing.

Your cheat sheet:

▪ PayByPhone is used in Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Surfside, Coral Gables, South Miami and Miami, including in Little Havana and Wynwood.

▪ In Miami Beach, Hollywood and Boca Raton, expect to pay with ParkMobile.

▪ Vancouver-based PayByPhone’s parent company is Volkswagen Financial Services. Atlanta-based ParkMobile was acquired last year by European mobility company EasyParkGroup. It was previously part of BMW and Daimler’s mobility joint venture PARK NOW Group.

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Cities have contracted with the mobile parking app companies. The cost of parking — and how long you can stay parked in a spot — varies by location and is determined by the city. Some places like Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach also give residents a discount.

Where does the PayByPhone and ParkMobile money go?

So, where does all the money go and what is it used for?

Whenever you pay for city parking using PayByPhone or ParkMobile, either through the app, on the web or by calling the number on the sign, your total is made up of the parking fee as well as a service fee. The service fee goes to the parking app, in this case PayByPhone or ParkMobile. It’s like a convenience fee, similar to what movie theaters charge when you buy tickets online.

The actual parking fee goes to the city.

For example: If parking costs $4 at a Fort Lauderdale lot and the service fee is 27 cents, your total will be $4.27. The $4 will go to the city and the 27 cents will go to PayByPhone.

How much you pay in service fees, if anything, depends on where you go. In Miami, for example, the Miami Parking Authority has been covering the PayByPhone transaction fee for drivers since 2014. Hollywood also covers the ParkMobile transaction fee for residents.

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Spokespersons for Miami Beach, which sees about 160,000 monthly ParkMobile users, and Coral Gables, where about 90% of its parking customers use PayByPhone, say the cities use the collected parking revenue to support parking operations, including maintaining and repairing lots and garages.

In fiscal year 2021-22, for example, Coral Gables had three million customers use PayByPhone to pay for parking and collected $10 million, according to Martha Pantin, a Coral Gables spokeswoman.

“Any revenue generated and not used in parking operations is used in the city’s general fund and offsets the need for additional tax revenue,” Pantin said in an email to the Miami Herald.

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Where do you need to use parking apps, online services in South Florida?

Businesses, schools and other places have also turned to mobile parking payments.

DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, where the Inter Miami soccer team plays, uses ParkMobile to reserve spots in its yellow lot. At loanDepot park, the Little Havana home to the Miami Marlins, drivers with a parking pass register a vehicle’s license plate via ParkWhiz. Everyone else has to pay for parking with PayByPhone or at a pay station.

Visitors to Florida International University and the University of Miami can pay for metered parking with PayByPhone. It’s also one of the ways to pay for Metrorail parking in Miami-Dade County.

And while PayByPhone and ParkMobile seem to be the most popular choices for metered parking in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, occasionally you’ll come across other mobile payment services.

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Most parking at Dadeland Mall, The Falls and Dolphin Mall is free, although for certain “prime” parking spots you’ll have to reserve and pay with the MyPark app. The visitor’s garage at Mercy Hospital in Miami uses a PayByPlate service called Metropolis. At Downtown Doral, you’ll be using ParkingPayments.com. (Don’t worry about remembering these names; just scan the QR code at your parking spot.)

While it’s clear South Florida has followed Miami’s lead in adopting mobile parking payments, not every place you’ll visit has gone app-only.

In Coral Gables, while PayByPhone is used for metered parking, parking garages on Miracle Mile, the main shopping street, still require you to pay with cash or card at a pay station. The garage at Shops at Sunset Place in South Miami also has a pay station.

Both Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport let you pay for parking with cash, credits cards, Apple Pay or Samsung Pay. FLL accepts SunPass Plus, too.

And at Zoo Miami, parking is free. Other South Florida malls, businesses and attractions offer free parking, too. But if you live in South Florida, it won’t be long before you’ll need to download an app or two to pay for parking.

Now, what was the password again?