PPA brings back meterUP parking app

Look who’s back from the dead: parking app meterUP is live once again in Philly.

In April, the app was shuttered after its maker, Pango USA, ran into financial troubles. At the time, 20,000 Philly drivers had downloaded the app. The app is back, this time by Atlanta-based Parkmobile, a subsidiary of Dutch conglomerate BCD Group.

“Our goal is to improve convenience and the overall parking experience in Philadelphia for all of our customer,” said Philadelphia Parking Authority Executive Director Clarena Tolson in a statement. “We believe meterUP is a major step in the direction of improving customer service and convenience.”

The Inky reports the service is now available in a strip of Center City that stretches from Arch to Locust, between 4th St. and 20th St. See if you can spot some of the “brand ambassadors” the company has posted up near Reading Terminal Market and other locations.

No cash? No coins? No problem! Stop digging for change and start digging our mobile payment app, #meterUP, powered by @Parkmobile! Get more info here ➡️ https://t.co/5Sn6jFMgbv pic.twitter.com/8jWQYiY7wz

— The PPA (@PhilaParking) December 11, 2017

New York City, Denver, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Miami are other markets where the company is present. It also has presence in the Philadelphia suburbs and central Pennsylvania. It was awarded the contract by the PPA in August.

Mind you, the app makes a comeback at a rough time for the state-run parking agency.

Over the weekend, reports of an FBI probe on the PPA made headlines, just days after Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale called for control of the agency to be returned to the city, due to allegations of sexual harassment and mismanagement by former Executive Director Vincent J. Fenerty.