Starting Jan. 1, riders parking in surface spaces at the Quincy Adams station or in garage spaces in the pick-up and drop-off area at the Braintree station will be told to pay either by calling a number or using an app, called Paybyphone, on an Internet-enabled cellphone.

Six years after it first began allowing riders to pay parking fees using their cellphone instead of stuffing cash in a so-called “honor box,” the MBTA is preparing to do away with the boxes altogether at some lots in Quincy and Braintree.

Starting Jan. 1, riders parking in surface spaces at the Quincy Adams station or in garage spaces in the pick-up and drop-off area at the Braintree station will be told to pay either by calling a number or using an app, called Paybyphone, on an Internet-enabled cellphone.



The T says riders who park in the two lots and choose not to pay by phone will find a paper invoice for $7 – the daily parking rate at both lots – left on their car.



Various pay-by-phone programs have been available as an option along with honor box payments for years at dozens of MBTA parking lots, but the Quincy and Braintree parking lots will be the first in the MBTA system to use the phone-based system exclusively. The T said it was testing phone-only payments at the two lots in an effort to “improve the convenience and experience to our commuters.”



The T first introduced phone payment as an alternative to honor box payments in 2008, starting with stations along the Kingston line and at commuter boat lots in Quincy and Hingham. The program was later expanded across the T system and updated to include a mobile app.



The agency is the largest owner of off-street paid parking in New England, with more than 55,000 parking spaces in 103 locations. That includes a total of 1,322 spaces at the Braintree station and 2,538 at the Quincy Adams station.



