The city parking authority is preparing to launch its new smartphone app.

The Pango Mobile Parking app, which allows drivers to pay for parking in the city through their phones, will go live Sept. 2 in the tier parking garage and the South McKean Street parking deck.

Authority treasurer Jeff Smith said the app will be tested in those two lots for about 60 days before the authority begins to implement the service in other lots and street parking.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Smith said. “It’s easier to control any issues that might pop up if we keep it in those lots.”

Permit parkers in the two lots will be required to sign up for the service. Once the service is live throughout the city, all permit parkers will need to register for the service.

Those who use metered parking will have the option to use the service or continue paying with quarters.

The first wave of drivers began signing up this past week for the Pango service on the company’s website.

Smith said there were some technical issues the first couple days of signing up, but the problems were resolved.

“The office had a fair number of calls the first couple days,” Smith said. “Pango had a couple IT issues people were calling in about.”

Smith said a glitch on the company’s website prevented customers from adding their credit card information to their accounts.

“All those problems are resolved,” Smith said.

City tax bookkeeper Sharon Snyder and Deputy Treasurer Sara Pellegrini have been in charge of working with the public on the switch.

“We had a lot of phone calls Tuesday,” Pellegrini said. “There were a few bumps in the road, but it’s working now.”

The tier parking garage has about 300 permit spaces and offers metered parking as well. The city typically sells about 250 permits in the garage per month.

The deck has 112 permit spaces and is always full.

“We’ve had waiting lists in that lot before,” Pellegrini said.

The process of launching the app has been time consuming for the office.

“It has taken up a lot of our time this week,” Pellegrini said Friday.

Snyder said the office has been working closely with Pango through the process.

“We’ve asked them every question humanly possible,” she joked.

There are about 540 permitted spots and about 1,100 metered spaces citywide.

Pellegrini said the response from the public has been mostly positive.

“We had one complaint from a woman who didn’t want to give her credit card information to the city,” Pellegrini said.

Pango maintains its service is through a secure server to prevent any fraudulent activity.

Snyder said most people will welcome the app.

“I think it’s best for the customers,” she said. “It’s more convenient during the bad weather, and many people work the same hours that our office is open.”

The Pango service will come with an added cost for parkers.

Buying a permit will cost $1 per transaction. The fee is the same regardless of the number of monthly permits bought at the time.

There also will be a 10-cent fee for each meter parking session, meaning a session that would cost $1 in quarters will cost $1.10 with the app.

Users will be billed monthly for the parking fees.

Signing up for the service is free, but users will be initially billed $1 to verify their credit card information. The $1 fee will be refunded in three business days.

Permit holders can register their car on the company’s website, www.mypango.com, using the smartphone app or by calling 1-877-myPango (697-2646).

Parkers will have the option of signing up for text message alerts through Pango. The service will send an automatic alert 15 minutes before a metered session expires, giving the parker the option to increase the time from the phone.

That service will carry a $1.99 monthly fee, but will be free during the 60 day trial in the tier garage.

Pango representatives will be in the city this week to install signs and train city workers on the service.

Chelynne Curci, the Main Street manager of Butler Downtown, said she thinks the service will benefit the city.

“It’ll make parking easier for people,” she said. “I know a lot of people don’t even carry cash anymore, let alone change. This will allow them to park without needing to risk a ticket.”

Curci said she had experience using the Pango system on a recent trip to Latrobe, which also uses the service.

“It was really easy to use,” she said. “And anything that can make parking easier for people in the city is a good thing.”