A parking zone is an area for which the municipality applies the same rate and the same paid hours. Every zone has a zone code, usually four or five digits, shown on the signs and ticket machines in that area. Start a session in the wrong zone and you are unpaid as far as enforcement is concerned, even though you are paying. The zone is therefore the first thing you check.
How the app finds the zone
The app uses your phone's location to put the zones around you on the map. In most cases the nearest one is the right one. But GPS is not infallible: in a narrow street, next to tall buildings or right at a zone boundary, the app can be a few metres off. And a few metres is sometimes exactly the difference between two zones.
How to check yourself
- Find the sign or ticket machine closest to your car and read the zone code.
- Tap the zone on the map and tap Start action on the card at the bottom.
- The zone screen opens, with the zone's name at the top and the code in the top right. Compare that code with the code on the sign, character by character.
- If it differs, go back to the map and type the code from the sign into Search for a parking area, or tap the right zone.
What else is on that screen
The zone screen is short: the zone's name at the top with the code from the sign beside it, any warnings below that, then the Parking action block you start from, and at the bottom the Rates per day with buttons for the Previous day and Next day. If the zone has no name, the screen is titled Parking zone. In a day-pass zone the app says: "This is a day card zone. Once you start parking, you pay a fixed day rate."
Two zones close together
In many city centres zones border on each other and the rate differs per street. If you are on a corner, look at the sign on your side of the street, in the direction your car is facing. When in doubt: the sign closest to your car belongs to where you are.
Zone not found
If the app does not find the zone code from the sign, the zone may not be payable through a parking app, for example on a private site or at a car park. Sometimes the app says so itself: "This parking location is currently not supported on our platform. We are working on this." Pay on the spot in that case. Finding the zone code on the street explains more about signs and codes, and The difference between zones and areas why one city has so many codes.
Picked the wrong zone?
If you find out after starting that you are in the wrong zone, stop the session immediately, on the map with Stop action or on the session itself with Stop, and start a new one in the right zone. For the wrong session you only pay the elapsed time and the service fee.