City aims to introduce digital parking this year

The City of Brandon hopes to implement digital street parking later this year, a city official said.

Council members on Monday approved final reading of a bylaw to implement digital street parking, but specific details on when people will be able to pay under the new system or how much it will cost the city are still being worked out.

“The intent would be to start having some digital options here in 2026, but that’s still to be defined,” the city’s acting general manager of development services, Ryan Nickel, said on Tuesday.

A city request for proposals closed last month, with eight companies bidding to operate the digital payment system.

“We’re in the process of reviewing some of the bids and hopefully we’ll select a proponent there and start determining implementation,” Nickel said.

The unevaluated bids don’t have a price attached and the bidding closed on May 14.

The city plans to keep coin payments in place for 2026 and 2027 as a transitional period and eventually eliminate that option altogether.

“We understand those transitions take time, because we want to make sure it’s comfortable for the folks coming downtown and they have an option that they feel comfortable using,” Nickel said.

“The goal is to have the majority of users already on the new system, so then when we go fully to it — and maybe don’t offer coins — that will be a much easier transition,” he said, adding that the timing of the switch will depend on the uptake for digital payment.

As the RFP is in the review process, Nickel wasn’t able to give a cost estimate for the city, but said that it could be paying an up-front cost along with a portion of every transaction under the new system to the winning bidder.

After administration selects a company to operate the digital payment system, he said, the city will notify the public about its plan, so it doesn’t come as a surprise for residents.

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the digital system is very simple and that he has used the technology in Winnipeg repeatedly, including to park near the provincial legislative building. He said people will transition to the new system quickly.

Winnipeg uses PayByPhone Technologies Inc., which allows users to submit their credit card information and details about their vehicles on an app. The app also allows people to specify how long they will be parked at a location and only pay that amount.

PayByPhone is one of the companies that submitted a bid in Brandon. The other bidders were Arch Web Design, HotSpot Parking Inc., Cale Systems Inc., Concord Parking, Gryd Digital Media, Honk Mobile Inc. and Indigo Park Canada Inc.

“I think by 2026 we should be able to utilize things other than coins in the meter, and you know what? The reality is a lot of people just simply don’t have coins on them, and we get that feedback a lot,” Fawcett said.

He said the city will also find ways to accommodate people who don’t want to use the technology or can’t because they don’t have phones or a credit card. That could include selling passes that residents could put in their cars, he suggested.

The RFP says the city will evaluate each proposal on a points basis, determining each company’s strength in several different categories, including ease of use for payees, enforcement capability, experience level and implementation plan.

On a 350-point scale, the company with the best result will be awarded the contract, the RFP states.

The RFP also says the city hopes to award the contract within four weeks of the May 14 deadline and have the digital payment system operating within four months of an agreement being signed.

» alambert@brandonsun.com