Georgian College Switch From Gates & Meters to Parking App

It should mean fewer parking tickets at its Barrie campus


No more leaving class to top up the parking meter or getting your hand stuck digging for loose change when you roll up to Georgian College in Barrie.

You can now simply whip that cell phone out of your pocket and open the HonkMobile app. Georgian College will unveil its parking app Wednesday that should mean less parking tickets and fewer headaches.

The app will send you a text message 15 minutes before your times up

Top up parking right from class

Todd Zubyck, Manager, Security and Parking Operations at Georgian says the app will give students the freedom to pay and top-up on parking from anywhere and will send you a text message 15 minutes before your times up. The app also has a search and reserve feature. Zubyck says students can now pay for parking by phone, kiosk, or at a pay-by-plate machine and they can use any credit card or their student ONEcard.

Georgian will keep some of the old cash meters for the time being

Out with the old, gates to be taken down

Zubyck says they are planning to take down the old gate system as soon as they can, “some signs are posted now with a full roll-out of signage and kiosks to be in place by the end of the week.” He says Georgian will keep some of the old cash meters, but eventually they will all come down.”

The parking gates at Georgian College will come down soon

How HonkMobile is changing Ontario’s parking landscape

HonkMobile is a Canadian made app that colleges, university’s, cities and towns across North America are teaming up with. You may have heard about the startup company before.

Since launching in 2013, HonkMobile has grown into one of the hottest startups in the country, first receiving exposure when its Toronto creator appeared on CBC’s Dragons’ Den. The company now touts 150,000 parking places in Canada and the U.S. – which now includes Barrie’s Georgian College.

It’s working in London, Ont

The City of London introduced the app a year ago.

“We’ve seen a 16% parking fine reduction – 2,782 fewer tickets – in the City of London.”

In a report by London’s Municipal Law Enforcement Services Manager Annette Drost, she stated parking tickets decreased 16 per cent (or 2,782 fewer tickets) and at the same time parking revenue rose nearly $400,000.

Other Ontario cities and towns are now jumping on board as well with Burlington, Welland and Cobourg to name a few.