Suffern Parking Authority Selects RingGo to Modernize Village and Train Station Parking: Pay By Cell Phone Service Increases Customer Convenience And Improves Parking Operator Efficiency

    TAMPA, FL, April 27, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Parking Authority of Suffern, New York is launching RingGo Pay by Cell Phone service beginning April 26, 2011. The new service is available for nine village lots including the daily parking spaces at the Suffern Train Station. As an added convenience, Suffern residents may now purchase monthly parking permits through RingGo.

This state-of-the-art system makes paying for parking far more convenient for Suffern's residents and visitors. Instead of having to make sure they have the right amount of cash or coins or walking and standing in the snow at the honor boxes, drivers simply dial the access phone number from their cell phones -- in the comfort and safety of their vehicle, or while walking to the train. This new payment option works with any cell phone as well as landlines and does not require any special features or applications. Nor does it displace the existing payment method -- motorists will still be able to use the honor box system anytime they choose.

For already registered users, the system will immediately recognize the cell phone number and ask for the posted location and space number and the desired amount of parking time. The entire transaction is complete within 30 seconds.

Motorists who are not pre-registered will be able to register during their first use of the service, right from their cell phone, which will take about three to four minutes. However, to make first time use even faster and more efficient, Ed Markunas of the Suffern Parking Authority, recommends that motorists pre-register by visiting www.MyRingGo.com. "At the RingGo website you just have to provide some basic information including your cell phone number, your license tag number and a credit or debit card number to pay for future parking. The registration is quick, easy and free." Markunas continued, "This service will greatly improve the parking experience for our residents and visitors, because it's so simple to use. Almost everyone has a cell phone, and all it takes is one call to pay for a parking space."

The Suffern Parking Authority is also introducing RingGo's digital permitting which has two new benefits to residents. First, and unlike the current system, which only allows the purchase of permits on certain days of the month, for an added fee, residents may purchase a permit anytime during the month. The digital permit becomes effective the day of purchase and is good for 30 days. Second, the entire process can be completed using one's cell phone or by visiting MyRingGo.com, thereby saving the trip to the parking office.

Neither the Suffern Parking Authority nor the Village of Suffern receive any additional revenue from offering this service, but are doing so as a convenience to residents and visitors. Customers who choose to use the service pay a $.30 per session convenience fee. RingGo's Pay be Cell Phone service is tried and true, with over seven years of service to over 3,000 locations worldwide, and making it available to Suffern motorists, supports the modernization and vitality of the village. "We're very pleased to offer this innovative technology and make the parking experience even more convenient for our village residents, merchants, and visitors " said Scott Shedler, Chairman of the Suffern Parking Authority. "We are committed to delivering seamless services for the way people live their lives now -- not 20 or 50 years ago -- and cell phones and digital applications and emerging technologies are a big part of that.

Some of RingGo's most innovative features happen later on in the parking process. Motorists may opt to receive a text message reminder 10 minutes before their time expires thereby avoiding parking citations. They can also add more time to their parking session remotely -- right from their cell phone -- no need to leave a meeting or dinner before they are ready. By visiting www.MyRingGo.com, drivers can also get receipts, view transaction history, manage their account and download tools.
RingGo's suite of solutions can increase operational efficiencies in a variety of different parking environments such as municipalities, universities, hospitals, and special event venues. In addition to mobile cashless payment, real time enforcement, and digital permits, RingGo offers solutions for citation payment, and a real-time internet portal for operators that provides information, data analysis, and intelligence services to parking clients, enabling them to become more efficient in their operations, optimize their parking utilization rates and collections, and better serve their customers.

"Many or our client municipalities are using RingGo not only to create a more seamless parking experience for their customers but perhaps more importantly, to update outdated legacy parking meters and systems without capital expenditures," said Amie Devero, Managing Director of RingGo. "Hardly any city is in a position to spend additional funds in today's budget-strapped economy. RingGo allows cities to 'leap-frog' over solutions requiring machinery, installation and expensive maintenance and go directly to a fully virtual system that is green, efficient and totally modern."

RingGo, Inc. is a privately held US corporation with headquarters in Tampa, FL, and is a subsidiary of Cobalt Telephone Technologies, Ltd., the global leader in mobile payment for the parking industry. Currently, RingGo has over two million customers in over 3,000 locations throughout the UK and the US and handles over 20,000 transactions per day, without a single glitch or outage in almost seven years of service. Within the next two months RingGo is launching its Pay by Cell Phone service in municipalities and universities in New York, New Jersey, Nebraska and West Virginia.

For additional information on RingGo's technology and services, or to read testimonials from delighted customers, please visit http://www.RingGo.com.

RingGo, Inc. is the premiere provider of pay by phone and a variety of other leading edge innovations to the parking and transportation industries.

# # #