Salem’s downtown parking app worked well for me today

I allowed for some extra time to park in downtown Salem today, as I wasn't sure how smoothly the Beep Beep Salem app would work on the first day of paid onstreet parking and I didn't want to be late for my Tai Chi class on Court Street.

But Beep Beep Salem worked great on my iPhone, undoubtedly because the iconic dog on the home screen is a skilled programmer. (I suppose the $25,000 the City of Salem paid to Flowbird to adapt their parking app for local use also could have had something to do with it.)

As I noted in a previous post about Beep Beep Salem, it was easy for me to set up an account because I could use my Apple credentials and Apple Pay, so no need to provide a credit card number for payment or any identifying information aside from my car's license plate number. 

There are advantages to using the app, though it costs an extra 35 cent "convenience fee."

I didn't have to go to the parking meters that have been installed on downtown sidewalks. It just took a minute or so to open the app, choose the nearest parking meter to where I'd parked, select the length of time I wanted  to park, and authorize the Apple Pay payment via face recognition. I might have gotten away with 1 1/2 hours, but I went with 2 hours to be safe. I could have added more time via the app.

The total cost was $3.35 since it costs $1.50 an hour to park in the downtown area. Somewhat strangely, as I was walking to my Tai Chi class I felt a pleasant sensation that when put into words was something like this: "I don't mind paying to park downtown because I enjoy downtown; Portland charges much more, as do many other cities."

My daughter, Celeste, and her family recently visited us from southern California before they went to my granddaughter's orientation at the University of Oregon, where she'll be a freshman this fall. Celeste grew up in Salem, graduating from South Salem High School in 1990. She visits downtown whenever she comes to see my wife and me. This time she remarked about how much more lively downtown seemed compared to previous visits.

I could continue to park for free in one of the downtown parking garages. Some of my fellow Tai Chi students plan to do this. However, I enjoy parking several blocks away from Court Street. I get some extra walking exercise and I enjoy people watching. Since I live in rural south Salem and am retired,  some days I don't see another human being aside from my wife.

So paying for onstreet downtown parking appeals to me for that reason: seeing people, including homeless people and street musicians. Also, the plan is for paid onstreet parking to replace the fee that downtown businesses have to pay the City of Salem for parking services. Thus whenever I use Beep Beep Salem, my payment becomes part of the money that will enable my Tai Chi instructor and other small businesses to stop paying the parking fee. 

Hopefully the vast majority of other visitors to downtown will feel the way I do. At first it was a shock to have to pay for parking that has been free for so long, albeit with time limits. But now that paid onstreet parking is here, I'm fine with it.