AlertPay and New Parking join forces

Several parking authorities, drivers and merchants in North America will benefit from a comprehensive range of new high-tech parking payment solutions

MONTREAL, April 26 /CNW Telbec/ - Today AlertPay announced an important partnership with New Parking Inc. The partnership, expected to generate over $30 million in mobile payments within the next 24 months, will allow both companies to merge their expertise in mobile and wireless parking payment solutions and offer one of the first cell phone-based parking validation solutions available in North America.

"We are thrilled to announce this new partnership with New Parking," said Firoz Patel, President and CEO of AlertPay. "We are charting a unique course and introducing value and innovative payment solutions that nobody thought possible even one year ago."

New Parking already uses wireless technology through IVR (Interactive Voice Response), which allows drivers to simply call in and enter their parking number and pass code to process their parking payments. The new partnership with AlertPay will make even more parking payment options available to drivers, including Wireless Application Programs (WAPs); payments are processed by mobile Web and smartphone applications with this mode.

"The new relationship with AlertPay is a significant milestone for New Parking," agreed Thomas Janacek, CEO of New Parking Inc. "We are looking forward to working with them to speed up the transition from cash to electronic payments in parking."

The two companies are also looking into implementing even more value-added services for parking payment solutions. They are currently developing a virtual voucher program whereby participating local merchants may reward their customers with discounts on parking fees in exchange for shopping in their stores.

"The initial objective is to allow merchants to reward drivers for shopping in their stores - but our end goal is to offer much more," said Mark Sibthorpe, Director of the AlertPay New Parking initiative. "For example, we will integrate our payment solutions with free services, such as Google Maps, to display participating merchants in the driver's proximity when they park. We are re-inventing the relationship between drivers and parking authorities by framing it in a positive light."

Convenience and Savings

Due to the introduction of smartphone/online payments, there are more flexible payment options to choose from; the new parking technology offers convenience to drivers. It allows parking authorities to save money since AlertPay uses the same electronic payment channels as the major banks. This network is more cost-effective than that of the credit card industry and can help parking authorities gain up to 2% more revenue by eliminating credit card interchange.

AlertPay and New Parking have also penetrated the American market, in West Palm Beach, Florida and in Petoskey, Missouri, as well as have several ongoing pilot projects in different cities in North America.

About AlertPay

AlertPay is a Montreal-based online payment platform that specializes in making and accepting secure e-wallet and credit card payments. The Company has over 4 million members and offers its services in over 190 countries, in 21 different currencies. More than 15,000 merchants use AlertPay for a one-stop-shop solution to accepting payments. The company also offers foreign exchange services, localized banking, fraud prevention, email invoicing, mass and single remittances and business management tools.

AlertPay complies with the strict rules that regulate the online payment industry, such those of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (OSFI), making its services reliable and secure.

About New Parking Inc.

New Parking Inc. is a Calgary-based company aiming to reconfigure the $100 billion global parking industry by using its own proprietary software and existing advanced wireless technologies to automate many parking industry operations, starting with payments and enforcement. New Parking enabled the very first virtual single space parking meter in January 2005 in Lethbridge, Alberta.

For further information: or for interview requests: Brigitte Viel, Cohn & Wolfe, [phone] ext. 243, [email protected]