MOTU Reviews

I have used park mobile for years and loved it and found it easy to use. The city I live in just switched all it’s meters to this app and after just one week I am terribly disappointed and begging to have Park Mobile back. #1 with this app you have to enter a “zone” and a parking meter number. The “zone” is in such small print that you must get out of your car to read it in the meter. So if it’s snowing, pouring rain or your in a hurry this extra step is such a hassle. #2 I have had to pay for the entire meter time at each meter I have used so far with this app. (Maybe there is a different way but I have not found one) so if I park at a 3 hour meter but I know I will only be there one hour I must pay for the 3 hours. That’s so stupid. It’s enough of a reason for me to start carrying change and stop using MOTU all together. With park mobile one could “start” the meter and then “stop” the session which would stop the fee. With this app I have been charged the full amount of the meter and even when I “stop” my session before the meter expires I still pay the same amount.

I understand the city I live in must have found a way to get paid more by this app thank Park mobile was paying them but unfortunately this app Is a huge disappointment for the people actually using MOTU for parking.

I downloaded MOTU on the day it went live and I have NOT been able to activate it, even during multiple visits to downtown GRMI. I’ve tried multiple reinstalls on both my phone and my wife’s (both iPhone 7+) and nothing works. MOTU hangs and then goes to a blank white screen. It’s an awful app that replaced the universally-used ParkMobile (which I use in many cities). The lack of functionality on this this app parking app has caused us to avoid coming downtown to shop, have dinner and attend events. That’s bad for business and bad for the City of Grand Rapids. Call me one very unhappy visitor to Grand Rapids!

It just took me 6 minutes to add time to the meter (as I sit here with WiFi at full bars), because MOTU loads THAT slowly...and before that, I spent another 5 minutes trying to get MOTU to open, log me in, and refresh my parking session details. Hopefully the parking police didn’t happen to pass my car as I was trying to pay for more time. ParkMobile is a lot faster, less glitchy, and more reliable overall. I’m really irritated that the meters were switched to this app instead of ParkMobile. 0/10 recommend!

Went to park downtown Grand Rapids. Tried to open MOTU and all it would do was show the logo. Eventually I paid at the meter with my credit card knowing I would add time with MOTU once it opened. Had to walk a mile back to my car because app never opened and found a ticket on my window.

Purpose of a parking app is to allow the user to pay virtually to avoid a ticket. Either this is a ploy for making money or it needs to be addressed to work as intended. Very frustrating and ineffective.

The fact that I’m not allowed to cancel my session is ridiculous! I was NEVER told I can’t cancel my session and when I parked my car for the day, (as I usually do on ParkMobile), and went to cancel it when I left for work it wouldn’t let me. I read their website and found out once you set a time you can’t cancel it. Basically I have to babysit my app 24/7 to make sure the time hasn’t run out and I haven’t over set my time for my inconsistent work schedule! BS!!! I paid $8.15 when I only parked for 30 minutes because I couldn’t cancel.

Park mobile was so much easier to use. MOTU makes you pick the amount of time up front you want to buy. Park mobile would just charge you for the length of time you had parked. You also have to put it two different sets of numbers, a zone and the the space. The number are at the bottom of the meter and so small you have to get out of your vehicle to see them. No biggie in good weather but in rain or a snowstorm who wants to expose their phone to those elements. I’ll only use MOTU if I don’t have change available.

Should send a notification when your parking session is expired, as opposed to a ten minute warning. When people are at work, they tend to not check their phone and sometimes they forget. this app should do more to notify the user that their parking is expiring so one doesn’t accidentally go 20+ minutes before realizing that they need to redo their parking.

Should also allow people to park longer than two hours, but that could also just be a city thing. Either way, kind of a ridiculous set up. Too many steps, could be a lot simpler.

MOTU will sometimes hang at login. As in it will send you the same verification number, ask you for your PIN, and then just hang for 30 seconds before saying wrong PIN. But, if you put in the wrong PIN it instantly says wrong PIN, so that’s not the issue. Issue happens on Cell and WiFi service. Seems to resolve within 15-20 minutes, so it’s probably service side, not client side. GR Parking is not helpful when you report the issue, or at least uncaring.

No app is the alternative though, so it’s better than nothing.

I can’t cancel my parking like park mobile, I can’t park for longer than 4 hours, app is trash, etc. Could go on and on but more so hate the fact that the first time I used MOTU , I thought it would work like parkmobile, start parking and end parking and boom pay for how long you were there. haha was I wrong. I ended up paying for 4 hours of parking while I only parked for an hour. Thanks. I also work construction downtown, now i have to move my car after 4 hours?!? Are you serious? Just let me start a new parking session for 4 hours. This “upgrade” of a parking app is a complete and utter joke.

I get that parking apps are not popular in general, but this app is especially bad. Half of the time I open MOTU , the service is down and won’t let me pay for my zone. I’ve also had the actual kiosks not working a number of times. 2 days ago, MOTU was down and the kiosk was frozen (in front of planet fitness). I called and they told me to find a new space (no “sorry” or “well fix it as soon as we can”). I’ve also been double charged by kiosks twice.

MOTU is far inferior compared to park mobile. Unfortunately, I guess we have to live with it however. If we are going to do so, and the developers hopefully read these reviews. Here's a great piece of advice. Why must we enter a zone number which is so small on the little sticker that it can barely be read from the car. The large number at the top of the meter should be the number that is used which I guess is the space number. Again, park mobile made this much easier as they only required the space number. It doesn't make sense to have a zone number and a separate space number. Just run the Space numbers higher in sequence and get rid of the zone number. Come on Grand Rapids, you can do way better than this. Additionally, when you go to pay, there should be away on MOTU to get rid of all the options like wallet and validation coupon. And then when you finally select pay with card, I have one card listed, but it wants to verify that that is the card I'm going to use. Duh! If I only have one card listed, then that is the card I'm going to use. If I wanted the ability to add another card, thar should be in a separate menu.

I got MOTU and had a meeting to go to. The meeting lasted longer than I thought. I originally
Payed for 1.5 hours of parking (the max is 4 hours). 10 minutes before my parking was up I tried to add more time. No matter what I did it would not let me. Then when I tried to start a new session to add more time, MOTU would not let me and said it was duplicated. This trash app seems to be set up for people to spend way more money than needed on a spot, or get a ticket. I later looked and was charged for extending my time, which it never did. I will never use MOTU again. Instead I will bring money to pay the meters. Do better

The change in the interface makes you take the extra step of confirming payment even though card information has already been entered and it is confusing. Makes it seem like you are done when there are extra steps to be taken. I know several people who have had the same issue and the same result of getting a ticket. Make the interface better and clearer- like it used to be. If I want to change my card selection I will do that otherwise it should default to what has been entered and selected as primary or current card.

Super clunky, adds extra steps compared to park mobile and less convenience. Two specific issues being that now I need a zone AND meter number, also I can't just set it and end my session when I stop parking — now I've got to define the length of my session as if I'm dumping change into a meter. It's a step backwards that makes it almost seem worthwhile to go back to keeping a roll of quarters in the cup holder. On top of that there have been a few instances where MOTU doesn't seem to start my session despite multiple attempts to enter the zone and meter numbers and I've ended up risking a ticket because of it anyway. Terrible.

Needs an “open ended” parking selection. How am I to know how long I’ll be? And, why is 15 min the shortest choice? Why can’t I renew? What if my meal takes longer than I guess? Shall I leave the restaurant and try to find another parking space?
So, parked by Rosa Parks Circle today to go to the optometrist. Used the new this app app. Set for 1 hour.
Went back to my car with 15 minutes to spare and had a parking ticket on my window. Grrr.
I WILL say; the city office quickly voided the ticket. But, I don’t think I should need to make the phone call after the incident.
I printed my this app receipt and stuffed it and the ticket in my desk drawer just in case it haunts me later. I don’t trust this system.

MOTU is meant to benefit the City of Grand Rapids - not its consumers; it’s a major downgrade from ParkMobile. Real experience: 1.) parked at a 2-hour meter, 2.) went to pay for additional parking after 2 hours with this app (as you could with ParkMobile), 3.) couldn’t pay for the parking (isn’t paying for parking the sole purpose of MOTU ?), 4.) moved vehicle - tried to find another parking spot - drove past the same *empty* spot 4 times - but couldn’t park at it, 5.) finally found another parking spot, 6.) went to use this app to pay for it - couldn’t recognize payment... MOTU adds insult to the injury of Grand Rapids parking supply/demand issues - and is an additional headache to individuals who choose to live downtown. Sincerely, angry consumer/GR resident.

So what was wrong with Park Mobile? Why try to "fix" something that isn't broken? Now, if I only need a meter for 4 or 5 minutes, I have to pay for 15 minutes. Or, if I think I only need a meter for 5 minutes, select 15 min, and get delayed getting back to my car, I get a ticket! At least with Park Mobile, I only paid for the time I used! MOTU is just another example of a few people coming up with a stupid idea that benefits no one, but makes those few people feel good about themselves. You want tourism and vistors to come to Grand Rapids, but no one wants to fix the actual parking issues and make it simple and easy to park. Why couldn't you just stick with what was working? MOTU was a bad idea.

Not only is MOTU a pain to use, it also charges you for the full time you select to park even when you stop it early. At the same time parking can’t be renewed - causing a problem when needing to stayed parked more than 2 hours is out of your control. With the very limited parking already in downtown, this creates loads of extra time searching for a spot in a ramp and walking to a meeting. And for those with a physical disability- no on-street ADA parking and without renewable parking in MOTU , these folks now have to somehow get from whatever ramp they can find to park in to their destination when convenient on- street parking that was renewable was once an option. Horrible app and horrible limits on parking by the city of GR.

The old parking app, ParkMobile, was MUCH easier to use. MOTU has a clunky UX, and takes longer to set up your parking spot – why do I need to type in two long numbers? It was also SO much more convenient to set a payment timer on ParkMobile and stop it when you leave, instead of having to choose from 15-minute increments ahead of time. Isn’t that the whole benefit of being able to use an app rather than feeding a meter? Also, it was nice to be able to use ParkMobile in other cities when traveling. As far as I can tell, this app is only for Grand Rapids, and it’s annoying to have to use a different app for every city I ever go to. Should have just left it to the professionals at ParkMobile instead of trying to take it into your own hands, GR. Big ol’ thumbs down from this downtown resident.

I was disappointed when I found out as I was preparing to park using ParkMobile app that Grand Rapids, Michigan has switched to the this app app. I had to quickly set up account as I was in a time crunch but it was very easy. I have been very happy with this app in general and find the wallet feature especially very helpful. It saves my most frequent parking spot so I don’t have to insert each time.