Pavilion parking payment goes digital
To ease the hassle of paying for parking at The Pavilion, shoppers can now pay for parking using the MasterPass app.
ALMOST everyone loves shopping, but paying for parking at a shopping mall can be a pain.
However, MasterPass has introduced a mall parking payment feature at The Pavilion and shoppers are now given the option to make safe digital payments for parking.
The 1.8 million visitors per month to The Pavilion now have the option to pay for their parking using MasterPass, MasterCard’s digital wallet service. This is the first MasterPass parking payment feature to go live in South Africa.
This is designed to significantly speed up payment for parking, particularly at peak times when queues can be long and shoppers are in a hurry to get home or back to the office. Most importantly, it will eliminate customer challenges associated with them not having sufficient change to pay for parking.
“Paying for parking is a pet hate for most consumers; we aim to make their experience easier, quicker and more convenient by introducing a solution that doesn’t require cash. MasterPass is a solution that is easy to use, and one that can be easily rolled out at parkades across the country,” said Mark Elliott, division president, MasterCard, South Africa.
Using digital payments to pay for parking removes the frustration that all shoppers experience at some point, including long queues, not having enough coins or the parking payment machine not accepting notes.
Shoppers at The Pavilion can now take their parking ticket as usual when they enter the mall’s parking area. When they’re ready to leave, they open the MasterPass application and scan the QR code printed on their parking ticket.
They then enter the parking ticket number, choose a pre-loaded payment card to complete the transaction and enter their unique ATM or one-time pin. This completes the transaction and they can proceed to the exit without having to queue or fumble for cash at the pay station.
A smartphone is needed to access the payment method, but the MasterPass download is free and available from the iOS, Android, Windows or BlackBerry app stores.
“The project was first rolled out at the Westville mall because The Pavilion was ready in terms of being able to support the technology needed and print the QR codes on the mall’s parking tickets,” Elliot added.
