• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, December 26, 2014

If retailers and e-commerce platforms can do it, forward-thinking city agencies can’t be far behind when it comes to new ways of getting you to cough up. This week the New York City Department of Finance released a request for information for vendors about a proposed mobile payments system for parking tickets: a platform that may allow payment with Bitcoin, among other options.

The city wants to know about the current state of mobile payments technologies and the mobile payment market. Armed with this information, city finance officials may eventually elect to invite contractors to bid for a contract to build a system that allows mobile payment of up to ten million parking tickets issued in the city every year, contributing revenues of up to $600 million to the city’s coffers. The mobile app would allow payment with credit cards, automated clearing house (ACH) transfers, Apple Pay, PayPal, and possibly even Bitcoin.

The proposed system would also enable vehicle owners to appeal tickets and, if need be, schedule court hearings using the same mobile app; currently, every year up to two million tickets are adjudicated online, by mail, or in person.

Earlier this year, another big part of New York’s municipal government, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said it plans to introduce mobile apps that allow passengers to use their smartphones to pay their fares, as well as enabling payment with key fobs or credit cards equipped with RFID or NFC technology.

In October the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace announced they were joining forces to test a new mobile ticketing app for Ventra, the city's fare card system, which will allow users to present their smartphones, preloaded with virtual tickets, to conductors who then scan and collect the fares.