BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Parking in Buffalo is getting more expensive as the city gradually replaces its Buffalo Roam pay-for-parking app with ParkMobile.
The first ParkMobile signs recently appeared along a stretch of Elmwood Ave.
Every time a driver uses either method to pay for parking, they are charged a platform fee. That's an extra charge on top of the cost of parking that goes to the app company.
The fee to use Buffalo Roam is $0.11 per transaction. ParkMobile's fee is nearly six times higher at $0.60 per transaction. And the city's contract with ParkMobile shows that fee is set to increase by $0.05 for each of the next two years.
Parking Commissioner Justin Booth says the higher transaction fee is a trade-off for eliminating Buffalo Roam's $10 minimum wallet-load requirement. That pre-pay feature was not friendly to visitors, says Booth.
"We thought for the majority of the users that little bit of a higher transaction fee was worth the change," Booth said.
Unlike Buffalo Roam, ParkMobile does not require users to download an app - that's just one way to pay. Users can also pay via a web browser, by scanning the QR code, by text or by phone, with payment options outlined on ParkMobile signs.
The Ryan administration inherited the change. The city's contract with ParkMobile was approved by the Buffalo Common Council in May 2024, when Byron Brown was mayor.
With 1,100 new signs to be hung, Booth says the rollout of ParkMobile will be gradual to give users plenty of time to spend any credit remaining in their Buffalo Roam accounts.
"We don't have a timeline for when we're going to eliminate Buffalo Roam and we really have no intention of doing it anytime soon," Booth said. "We know people have loaded money into their wallets."
Drivers who want to avoid the transaction fee altogether can still use a traditional parking meter. Booth told me his department inherited many broken meters and acknowledges about 12 percent of them are still waiting to be fixed. But he says the city is actively working to repair them.
"Many of those pay and display kiosks have had plastic bags over them for years, and that's something we're making a very concerted effort on getting back up and running and working again to make sure people have multiple ways to pay."
