You no longer have to fumble for change or risk getting a parking ticket when you park in Regina’s downtown core.

The City has launched the PayByPhone app, which allows you to pay for your parking spot by using your smartphone.

“This is to make our parking more convenient, accessible and easy for drivers,” Regina Mayor Michael Fougere said. “An option where they don’t have to have coins in their pocket, they can use the app on their phone and you can activate that anywhere you want to, as long as you stay within the two-hour time limit.”

Parking in downtown Regina currently costs $2 per hour. A 17-cent transaction fee will be charged on top of that price when using the app.

There are currently 30 cities in Canada using the app, including Saskatoon.

It’s available for download from the Google Play and Apple App stores.

After you’ve downloaded the PayByPhone app, you just enter the location number, which is found on the meter, your license plate number and then you can top up after if your time is running out.

“When I’m parking, I find myself in meetings and stuff like that and it’s kind of awkward to have to interrupt the meeting and be like, ‘Hey, I have a parking situation to deal with,’ instead with the app, I can just extend the time and not have to worry about that,” a downtown patron told CTV News.

Another patron added, “That would be pretty convenient, I’ve gotten a lot of tickets down here… so it will be pretty sweet to not have to pay a $30 ticket everytime.”

Using coin to pay for a parking spot will still be an option.

The Regina Downtown Business Improvement District hopes the app will encourage more people to visit downtown to eat and shop.

“A vibrant downtown means it’s a healthy city, so we want to make sure all our retailers are full, all of our businesses are full and everyone’s thriving and if having an app makes it easier for them to come downtown than that’s what we’re going to support,” RDBID Executive Director Judith Versuk said.

The University of Regina is launching a similar program that should be fully operational by the end of the week.