ParkNYC Powered by Flowbird Reviews

by Dani Tee

1) ParkNYCPowered is glitchy: I once had ParkNYCPowered freeze on me where I could get to the point of paying but it wouldn’t let me pay. When I reported this issue to customer service they told me there’s nothing they could do. I deleted, re downloaded and it seemed to work.

2) the service of PARK NYC is horrible: recently I accidentally selected the wrong license plate, called customer service 10 seconds after I purchase it and asked for a refund since I repurchased with the right license plate. I was bounced for weeks to different offices and 311, to inevitably be told park nyc does not manage the refunds and NYC does not offer refunds regardless of issue. Even though the website has a section for refund requests.

3) ParkNYCPowered will lock you out of your account and youll need to go on the website to unlock the account. When this happens ParkNYCPowered won’t load.

by Km123455678

I opened an account yesterday and it worked fine except it was annoying that you have to upload 25$ to start and can’t just pay as you go as you would normally on the street. Today I go to a doctors appointment and try to open ParkNYCPowered to pay for parking. It crashes every time I press log in. Now I’m trying to five minutes restarting my phone to see if maybe it’s my phone that’s messed up. No I restart my phone to find the same thing happening. Now I have to go to my appointment and can’t spend a half hour trying to trouble shoot through this so I run over to the nearest meter and pay for my parking that way. What a miserable experience. What a waste of my money that was uploaded to ParkNYCPowered. It really seems like this is just a ploy for the government to take peoples money. If ParkNYCPowered developers see this, be better and maybe refund me my money at least? Thanks.

by Nabzjsjnnsjsjksm

I noticed there is a pretty crippling issue with the current version of ParkNYCPowered (updated a year ago) when using on iPhone X with iOS 11.4.1. When going through the application all the function of the application seems normal and works without fail. Until I try to confirm my parking session and press “Start”. This button does not activate at all. I can see the animation of the button press down but the application does not progress to start the Parking session at all.
I have tried uninstalling ParkNYCPowered , restarting the phone, reinstalling ParkNYCPowered , resetting settings on my phone and have verified ParkNYCPowered working on another iPhone X using slightly older version of the software. I use ParkNYCPowered prett frequently and would like to continue to use it with Apple’s latest version iPhone X. Please consider updating ParkNYCPowered to fix this bug for the newest phone users.

by BadAssRN82

Had to delete it. It only worked once. It's a shame because it has great potential and I would rather pay ParkNYCPowered direct then have my credit card scanned at one of those meters. It's a shame. Because in NYC it's more expensive to park and to be able to use ParkNYCPowered while not having to exit the car and find the meter would've been great. The issue was I would input my zone and time and click send. Then nothing would happen. I would go and check email to see if they emailed me the confirmation and they wouldnt I would waste time thinking it's wifi sitting in my car and people would come by thinking I'm leaving my spot. No I was just waiting to see if it went through. Also the other issue is it only alerts you by email when you're close to your end of time and who checks their email when they're out shopping. A text should be given or an alert that's audible on the phone would be better. Fix ParkNYCPowered and maybe I will redownload but otherwise I want my refund of 25 dollars.

by Queenpiff

ParkNYCPowered is pointless and a scam by the city to give more tickets. After the hour expired it wouldn't allow me to pay for an additional hour. I thought the whole point of ParkNYCPowered is so that I don't have to keep going outside to pay the muni meter but if it is a one hour parking area it will not allow you to pay for an additional hour. Stupidest thing I ever heard of don't even waste your time.

In response to the developers response: I understand what your saying but that law isn't really regulated. It's like getting a ticket for jay walking. It's a law but no one actually gives you a ticket for it. People at my job park their car on one hour meter from 9am to 6pm and just keep feeding the meter and no one ever gets a ticket. It's not your fault your just the developer and ParkNYCPowered would have actually been really great and convenient. Maybe the hourly limits on meters should be banished or at least increased 🤷‍♀️

by Darek Party Rental

Those developers that are working on ParkNYCPowered to fix all the issues need to be fired. Worst app I have experienced in my life. Constantly crashing, every week or two I need to reinstall it. Got couple times parking ticket even after purchasing mini meter ticket through ParkNYCPowered . You can not add more vehicles than 5, my question is why????? Why is there a limit on it? I have delivery business with 7 vehicles and it’s a burden for me. Please Apple take this useless app down. It does not deserve to be listed, the rating speaks for its self. It’s a tragedy that in 2019 soon to be 2020 this city and developers can not create properly working app. Total waste of city money. I think friend or family member from the mayors office got this job, and is taking money out but has no clue of how to create working app. I am annoyed and discussed by this. Developers are total garbage in what they are doing. I hope they ready this and take ParkNYCPowered issues seriously. Please fix this crappy app. Once again PLEASE, PLEASE.

by Jonn121

ParkNYCPowered worked for me for the first few months and then it doesn’t allow Me to make any payments anymore . I can log in add vehicle , select zones , check the map function for zones numbers , everything work right up to the point of having to pay for time. I spoke to the nyc agency handling it and they said “it should work” . Yeah obviously but I didn’t expect much and requested a refund of my balance . My workmarpund is simply to just go to their website version of this and use it there . It works as intended with another issue . You cannot add time like ParkNYCPowered allowed you to do . Also the time counts down for you but because it is a website if you shut the browser you lose the constant connection and it is not accurate. You must got back to watching the clock. Total shame as I know it should work but no clear way to get help or get this fixed . I have had this issue for about a year now .

by High Line Life

ParkNYCPowered is faulty and should be removed / banned from ParkNYCPowered Store. Additionally, the Developer responds to all reviews with the same inadequate response.

I can see from the reviews that users have been experiencing similar issues for over two years, and the developer has yet to resolve any issues. I think the best solution is to raise this issue with the Mayor De Blasio Administration, Department of Transportation, New York Police Department Bureau of Traffic Law Enforcement, and 311. Please contact them to express your concerns.

Below are a few following issues:

1. Not all parking zones are shown.
2. Parking zones buttons often appear empty with only the outline of the button shown.
3. If you parked in a zone for the maximum time period, but decide to move your vehicle elsewhere in the same zone, you cannot complete your new transaction on ParkNYCPowered .
4. On the checkout screen, the START PARKING button often does not work (ie does not complete the transaction). Beware that you may have not completed your purchase and are at risk of a parking violation.
5. ParkNYCPowered is not compatible with Apple Pay.
6. To resolve item #4, I have to frequently reinstall that app. However, reinstalling ParkNYCPowered does not resolve issues #1 or #2.
7. ParkNYCPowered often says “no network connection” after starting a parking session, even if your iOS has full LTE service or Wi-Fi.
8. ParkNYCPowered design is dated, buggy, and has a poor UX experience.

by BobbyCakes95

Locked me out of my account and when i try and unlock it by resetting my password, it links me to their website asking me to put in the zone number. When i put im the zone number, it then tells me my account is locked and resends me an email to reset my password. Then rinse and repeat, its an endless loop, i never got to recover my password and all this while in a spot trying to pay through ParkNYCPowered because i had no quarters. My suggestion to make ParkNYCPowered better, when people create an account, have them create a password and confirm their password as it seems whatever password i had put i had misspelled. Since youre not asked to enter the same password twice, you wont realize you had a spelling error until you try and login. Also, the $25 minimum should go, imagine having to park in nyc for just one hour and having to deposit $25 in an account just to use $2. Then never using the remaining $23 for who knows how long since I rarely drive to nyc.

by Anthony P. 66

So very disappointed with how the issue with ParkNYCPowered not working on the iPhone was not communicated to the using public by the developer &/or company.

I kept tapping (several times) on ParkNYCPowered thinking I was doing something wrong; I became extremely frustrated waiting for some response. I sat inside my car wondering if it actually worked or not??... I was only wasting my time and getting even more upset!.

When ParkNYCPowered worked, it worked perfectly!... it even allowed you to extend the meter time remotely to its maximum time allowed (very convenient when it rained & snowed) - ‘one caveat’.. was the fact that you can’t restart the time for the parking; you have to go back outside to the meter and pay manually with your card or cash.

I had to call in to the company and eventually get an answer on the issue. The Rep. stated that they are aware of the issue with iPhones not working properly with ParkNYCPowered . No other solution was offered but to delete it and try to reinstall - same issue persisted.

My suggestion to the Developer; you have access to send communications to your clients, therefore, send a Notification on any problems or issues you may encounter in the future.

Sad to say that I have ‘DELETED’ ParkNYCPowered hoping that one day you will send communications on the issue being resolved and getting the opportunity once again to use it in the near future.

by Rayo 85

How can refilling the meters be illegal, this is what New Yorkers do all day every day with the muni meter tickets stacked way up high on the dashboard. ParkNYCPowered is "enforcing" such a stupid parking regulation. And you can't start a new session until the next day??? Give me a break, what if you were to move your car a few spots up or down in the same zone. Technically the car has moved to a new spot and you have the legal right to get a new session in place. The city of NY stands to gain so much money if you could refill endlessly using ParkNYCPowered , people would be paying blindly from the comfort of their own favorite restaurant, or local business. ParkNYCPowered was supposedly created because businesses wanted people to stay at their establishments and not leave and come back to refeed the meter. However, now people will just be forced to leave, jump in car and just go home!!!

As for ParkNYCPowered , I guess it works fine, only had very minor glitches that were unnoticeable.

by Diva2001a

When ParkNYCPowered first came out it was amazing it worked perfectly in all of the boroughs and then something happened where you have to delete it every time you want to put a zone number in. So I have to basically delete ParkNYCPowered and then add it just to put the number in for it to take and then I have to do it every single time. I’ve never been able to use ParkNYCPowered twice in a row without having to delete it and then add it in order for it to work. Now I find that extremely inconvenient but it’s more convenient than having to pay walk to my car every time I have to pay.

The other thing is when you use ParkNYCPowered you can only use it every other interval meaning you can pay with your card until the time runs out and then with your app till the time runs out and then if you need more time you have to pay with your card again. You can’t use ParkNYCPowered continuously. So it’s not perfect, it used to be perfect but then something changed. It’s an OK alternative. It does what it supposed to do it’s just a hassle to have to keep putting in all the extra work.

by Ndriqim Kastrati

ParkNYCPowered needs a lot of bug fixing. It used to work like a charm especially because parking in Manhattan is ridiculously difficult. It continues to glitch regularly. As of right now, I have to delete and reinstall after every single use. I can't tell if its a way for the city to just be able to push more parking tickets or because of "covid" they aren't able to get to updating ParkNYCPowered . Regardless, it is a little embarrassing that the most prestigious city in the world doesn't have a fully functional mobile/app for parking meters.

I've asked traffic officers if they know whats going and they suggest calling and paying via phone.... yes, they said "pay via phone" and just continued to move on. ParkNYCPowered doesn't work, the actual meter zones are not always dependable so now we must spend literally 10 minutes to call and pay the muni-meter cia cellphone.

Fixing ParkNYCPowered would be beneficial for the general public but I guess who cares about the general public when you can make $65 for every vehicle parked without paying the meter. Thanks DeBlasio, you are the man (sarcastically). But in all seriousness thank you for the Alternate Side Parking reform, looks like maybe you're not all bad.

by Trail Walker 2020

Unfortunately ParkNYCPowered is a necessary evil to have when parking on the streets of New York City. 75% of the time it never works because it has a network date connection error. The remaining 25% of the time you’re lucky if it works. ParkNYCPowered will freeze and crash unexpectedly. You will have to repeatedly uninstall it and reinstall it and then sign back in with your account. The New York City parking regulations are so stringent they purposely make it so it’s very easy to be fined by missing the meter past three minutes. Also the New York City parking meter maids have their system Incorporated into ParkNYCPowered so they are notified which vehicles parking times have expired in ParkNYCPowered and rush right over as soon as it expires to place a $65 ticket on your window. So app also has a double edge sword Being that it’s essentially spying on you and notifying the parking police where you are and how soon they will ticket you.

by Lkmnhbvfc

Use to work just fine for a year , only issue I had was the 30min wait period between adding more time to the meter if you’ve already reached maximum time allowed and still in the same spot but I guess that’s so people don’t monopolize the parking space but if I paid at the meter with my card or cash directly you can still do the same thing you’d just have to keep coming back outside to your vehicle to do that so whatever. But now for months I have not been able to use ParkNYCPowered put in the meter information and when I press confirm to pay nothing happens.... was convenient prior to this issue now it’s useless and what’s crazy is they just took a new $25 payment from me prior to this issue and I have only been able to make one 50cent purchase since so I guess after months of hoping it would start working again I have to just call it quits and ask for a refund. Technical support was no help over the phone with the apps issues

by Toyster26

I wish I could give ParkNYCPowered a great rating because the purpose of ParkNYCPowered is to make parking life a little bit more convenient. However ParkNYCPowered crashes and / or does not register a function command. For example, it will allow me to select my saved zone, select max time, then don’t register “Start Parking”. I then have to log into the site (mind you - is also buggy) to put in my parking time. It makes ParkNYCPowered inconvenient. Developers please look into the bugs and try to work out the kinks. Looking forward to seeing improvements. Thanks!

Update: a year later the issues are still there. In addition (see high line life’s review) there are issues reworking in a zone using ParkNYCPowered after time expires, force closes, and constant reinstalling of ParkNYCPowered . The developers have not released an update in over a year. ParkNYCPowered - although is a staple in a city like NYC, a city the thrives on convenience, is critical. Please look into these issues or another developer will and take your business.

by Disgruntled And Broke

ParkNYCPowered boast an “extend time” feature. It’s tutorial does not caution that extensions can’t be made beyond Max parking time. In other words, unlike paper generated parking receipts, you can’t add an extension of a second session. The fine print says there’s no extension beyond 5 minutes before expiration or if you select maximum time. I understood that to mean select 45 minutes on a one hour parking spot and extend for another hour between 15 and 5 minutes before expiration. It took 2 tickets — both appealed and denied — to learn that ParkNYCPowered allows only one maximum time session! I’m an English teacher and have no issues with literacy. When you create an app that can replace a meter, but will eliminate a very important feature of the meter we’ve used for decades, that detail should be stated loud and clear in the tutorial and in the Help feature. How hard is it to write: a car is only allowed to park up to the maximum time. No back to back repeat sessions are allowed anywhere in the parking zone. At least 30 minutes must pass before you may park again in the same parking zone?

by Poorman59

I have been using ParkNYCPowered since it came on line in the 5 Boroughs of NYC. Has become my meter parking aid especially when there isn’t any available coins. Just tap in the zone number, pick the time you need. The meter’s do take charge cards, but don’t provide the benefits of using the NYCParking app. Such as extending your time as long as the limit is not exceeded.
But, there are cliches from time to time. Case in point, when I wrote this review, ParkNYCPowered would not function, good thing I had alternate payment option.
Note. If you have more then one registered vehicle on ParkNYCPowered , you need to save that vehicle as your main for that transaction.
In NYC, you can’t extend the time pass the limit. 30 minutes of time need to pass before ParkNYCPowered will allow you to reuse ParkNYCPowered at that parking zone.

by GuardBoy

ParkNYCPowered should allow users to 1) look up parking rules / hours / prices without an account or at least without a $25 minimum commitment. 2) create an account without registering a car. I don’t own a car, but when my sister comes to visit, rather than have her put a $25 deposit down so she can use ParkNYCPowered , I would use ParkNYCPowered on my phone to pay for her parking or a friend’s parking 3) forcing a minimum deposit of $25 is so archaic and grabby. How did the MTA implement RFID payments so easily and you want us to make this much of a commitment to park on the street? You need a better software team. ParkNYCPowered should be rebuilt from scratch. It should be “wow New York made paying for parking super easy and intuitive!” Instead, you’ve made it, “hey did you download the parking app?” “Yeah, bro. Why do you think my car got towed?”

by Laylee/NN

Download this bad boy right now. I’ve been using ParkNYCPowered for 2 years and I love being able to just get out of the car and not have to finangle with the machines to pay. ParkNYCPowered is super convenient and quick. I totally get the frustration of the other reviewers, but I feel like most people who use ParkNYCPowered love it, but as with most things, people who have problems with it are the most vocal.

Being unable to extend past the max time is annoying, but ParkNYCPowered never claims to allow that. When I know I’m staying longer than the max time, I just pay at the machines first, and then when that time is up, I pay via ParkNYCPowered so I don’t have to leave wherever I am. Works smoothly.

Onlyyy problem I’ve consistently had is that when ParkNYCPowered feels like it, it won’t let you pay for the time. You’ll have to delete ParkNYCPowered and re-download. It’s really frustrating, hopefully it gets fixed soon! Otherwise, it’s a great app and don’t listen to the negative reviews, make your own judgement. :)

by MSSReader

I can’t imagine that the designers of ParkNYCPowered ever owned a car or fed a meter. Their product is a ticket waiting to happen (and we just got one). It offers two-car families no convenient way to see which car you’re actually buying time for. Worse still, it links accounts at the server level, not the device level. I had to go through the settings and make my car the primary vehicle when I used ParkNYCPowered . That setting automatically updated my wife’s phone without her knowing it. So when she parked her car and used ParkNYCPowered , she got a ticket. Any app designer with half a brain would put the license plate # front and center before the user committed to the fare, and they would have made choosing a different car or adding a rented car easy and intuitive. One star for the developer’s lack of consideration for how people might use ParkNYCPowered.

by LBerdugo

My app worked a few times then eventually had the same issue as some other users. When I get to the point where it says “start parking” it just doesn’t work. I also thought it was bad reception etc... nothing worked except when I deleted ParkNYCPowered and reloaded it again; at that point ParkNYCPowered worked once or twice and that’s it same issue again! I can’t keep deleting and reinstalling it! So I called support and the guy was not really helpful And asked me what I DID to try and solve the issue, only thing i got was an email from support to get this solved. Fast forward 2weeks later support never reached back, they keep taking my money and I can’t use ParkNYCPowered unless I call Park NYC and pay over the phone. Such a waste of time! It’s too bad that people running ParkNYCPowered are not professional because it really could be a useful app!

by Hard To Win N Wait

Update: 2 years later and this crap still doesn’t work. What a shame

Used it for about 8 months. It was great! The all of a sudden, 4 months ago, you can’t submit the order, or payment for the meter. They never fixed it, never updated it. It’s like no one is on top of ParkNYCPowered at the DOT. I hope it makes a come back. You can try logging on in the website on your phone but sometimes it just easier to walk to the muni meter and pay by the time you have to enter your password and enter the time and stuff.
Update: received an email on deleting and re downloading. Setting it up. ParkNYCPowered still hasn’t worked in a year. I even log on on-line. Still doesn’t work. It’s ParkNYCPowered and the site that isn’t functioning. Either up date your crappy app or don’t bother offering it. I have an iPhone 8+. It stopped working with my 6 back then. So frustrating.

by SLNY

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!! I’ve been using ParkNYCPowered for over 3 months. First 3 months, no tickets. Then last week I parked in a 2 hr zone. I paid $8 for 1.5 hrs. I got the confirmation email. I came back with 15 mins left.... and a ticket on my windshield for not having the “receipt displayed.” Now I have to print out the email and mail it yo fight the ticket. Waste of time. Also, I tried emailing ParkNYCPowered at the address they keep posting here. I got a confirmation email saying they got my email, and will get back to me ASAP. It’s been a week now. No answer. UPDATE: it’s been just 2 weeks since I got that fine. I just got another fine today for $65 while using ParkNYCPowered . “No valid receipt visible in dash”. I think that some officers don’t have access to ParkNYCPowered or they need fill their monthly quota, and this is a great way to give out tickets. I called 311 and filed a complaint against ParkNYCPowered .

by Jamel Tza

ParkNYCPowered used to work but now works maybe 1/4th of the time. Plenty of network errors, bad login attempts and generally a bad experience. Worst than the bad user experience is not knowing whether or not your payment has really gone through. Nothing quite like paying to park and getting a ticket anyway because ParkNYCPowered actually encountered an error.

ParkNYCPowered also prevents you from paying to remain in the same zone once your time has run out, despite being able to do so at the physical meter.

This is easily the worst app on my phone. Seems like it was developed in 2013 and has been abandoned since 2019. There are no updates and I don’t anticipate ParkNYCPowered getting any better. If I could give half a star, I would. It is now more convenient to physically walk to the meter and pay in person - at least the meters work.