Abstract Manager

In 2024, the City of Edmonton transitioned to a new mobile payment platform for paid parking related to their EPark program. The past EPark app had existed since its inception in 2015 with a strong customer base and multiple options to pay for parking (app, virtual url, text to pay and phone to pay). Yet, there were technology limitations with the EPark app and a new technology was required to align with the City’s new Curbside Management Strategy. A Request for Proposal was developed to secure a new mobile payment app provider, which launched a highly sensitive, customer-facing technology change to support municipal paid parking in Edmonton. 

The City’s mobile parking payment project was the first major app to app transition that impacted over 175,000 customers and required a strong change management approach. Many lessons were learned along the way with recommendations for future technology transition projects that impact municipal operations:

• Shifting from one mobile platform to another, while retaining and attracting new customers
• Digitizing physical permits into a mobile payment platform with new requirements
• Transferring of existing funds, while moving from a wallet-based system to a pay as you go
• Supporting thousands of customer account refund requests with limited resources and cash handling restrictions
• Navigating both positive and negative feedback from City Councillors and customers through the change management lens

Since the implementation of the new mobile payment platform in April 2024, the City has reviewed the success of the first year of its implementation, along with next steps to further increase user adoption for mobile parking payments. A review of the new mobile payment app, including data, customer feedback and parking revenue, has provided a fulsome overview of the impacts of the technology change to paid parking in Edmonton.