The city of Minneapolis is rolling out a new meterless parking payment option: the smartphone.

Customers can use the MPLS Parking app to plug in their parking-spot number and pay through their phone. They can also add more time to their meter while they're away from the parking spot. The city is testing the app out in 975 spots in the North Loop and Downtown West.

Mark Read, assistant parking manager for the city, pointed out that "more and more people are using smartphones to pay for things. It's becoming much more acceptable and this really is another way of using that phone and using that technology to allow the resident to pay for his parking."

Read said if the rollout is successful, the city will add the capability to all spots in the city this fall. Parkmobile USA, the company that built the app, says it already serves cities in 42 states. There is an extra charge; MPLS Parking app users pay an extra fee of 15 to 25 cents per transaction.