On and off campus, you can pay for parking with your phone

Gone are the days of running to a kiosk to pay for your parking when you’re already late to a meeting or class. Now you can pay right from your phone via Whoosh!, an app that lets you pay for your parking with your mobile device.

Whoosh! arrived in downtown Binghamton just a few months ago, but it isn’t new to the Binghamton area; it’s been used on campus since 2015.

“Since many of our students, faculty, staff and visitors park in both locations, having the same system makes it easier for the them,” said Susan Crane, director of parking services on campus. “The parking and transportation industry is constantly developing new technologies that make the parking experience less stressful.”

The city of Binghamton wants to be on the forefront of these new technologies.

“With Whoosh!, no cash or coin is needed to park. It works on campus and downtown or in any city that uses the Whoosh! app. It also sends reminder push notifications when parking is about to expire,” said Jared Kraham, deputy mayor for the city of Binghamton. “By encouraging the ‘park once’ mentality, downtown visitors can patronize multiple locations without worrying about running back to feed a meter or move their vehicle.”

Whoosh! is already popular with the Binghamton University community. Over 27 percent of parking revenue from pay-to-park spots on campus came from Whoosh! during the 2017-18 school year, showing a steady increase in usage since it was originally brought to campus.

This enthusiasm has extended off campus as students embrace the new technology on the streets of downtown Binghamton.

“It’s great being able to skip the line, in a sense. I don’t have to walk to the kiosks, I can just go where I need to go,” said Daniel Steinbrecher, a senior majoring in economics who lives downtown. “If you’re at Strange Brew and you run into a friend, you can easily pull out your phone and add time.”

Download the Whoosh! app and create an account at whooshstore.com.