Parking payment provider PayByPhone is bringing NFC technologies to parking meters in Ottawa. The company announced parking meters in the Canadian city will allow drivers to pay for and extend their parking time using a number of mobile methods including a "tap" from an NFC phone, scanning a QR code, through a mobile app, or plain old dialing a local phone number.

"We're pleased to be the first Canadian city to offer a NFC option to PayByPhone users," said Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson. "The City of Ottawa is always looking at ways to provide better service to our residents, and PayByPhone is another way we're doing that."

PayByPhone's Pay & Display machines in Ottawa will feature a sticker with instructions on how use the system. Embedded in that sticker is an NFC tag with the location number of the Pay & Display machine, the company said. Customers who have signed up for the service and have an NFC-enabled smartphone can wave the device over the logo on the sticker and the PayByPhone app or mobile web page is launched. Drivers without NFC phones can still use the app, launch a mobile web transaction using the QR Code, or simply call the local number displayed on the sticker.

Through the NFC information exchange, the meter identifies the user and the parking location. All the customer has to do is enter the amount of time desired and the transaction takes place.

And there's no running back to feed the meter. Drivers can get a text message five minutes before their time expires so they can purchase additional time.

"There has been a lot of hype around NFC recently and we're pleased to implement this technology for real-world applications," said Neil Podmore, VP of Business Development at PayByPhone. "This is the first use of NFC for parking in Canada and we expect more widespread adoption in 2012."

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