Motorists can now pay parking fees by mobile phone instead of coins. In January, the first Nordic mobile parking system covering an entire city was introduced in Helsinki.

Motorists participating in the "Parkit" service dial the number of the parking lot on arrival, and call the "parking termination" number when leaving. Thus, they pay for the real, not the estimated, parking time. Parking supervisors recognise cars using the service by the sticker glued on the windscreen. They then check on their WAP phone that the parking fee has been taken care of.

The Parkit system was delivered to the City of Helsinki by PayWay, a subsidiary of Sonera Ltd. The company expects there will be about 15,000 users this year.

>> www.payway.fi