PayByPhone parking allows drivers to pay for and extend their parking time using a mobile app, online, or calling a local phone number. Ottawa is the first Canadian city to incorporate near field communication (NFC) and QR code features for its parking payments.

"We're pleased to be the first Canadian city to offer a NFC option to PayByPhone users," said Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson. "The City of Ottawa is always looking at ways to provide better service to our residents, and PayByPhone is another way we're doing that."

Every Pay & Display machine in Ottawa has a PayByPhone sticker with instructions on how use the system. Embedded in that sticker is an NFC tag with the location number of the Pay & Display machine. Once signed up, customers who have an NFC compatible smartphone simply wave it over the logo on the sticker and the PayByPhone app or mobile web page is launched. The system recognizes the user, identifies the parking location, and the customer enters the amount of time desired. An optional text message is sent five minutes before the parking session ends, and if needed, allows additional time to be purchased via the phone (subject to time restrictions).

"There has been a lot of hype around NFC recently and we're pleased to implement this technology for real-world applications," said Neil Podmore, VP of Business Development at PayByPhone. "This is the first use of NFC for parking in Canada and we expect more widespread adoption in 2012"

Drivers without NFC capable phones can still use the service by manually launching the app or simply calling the local number. The signs also contain QR codes for a mobile web transaction.