This new technology, sadly, does not fix the biggest headache about parking in the city: finding a spot in the first place.

But once you do find one, the app will at least keep you from having to sneak away from dinner to feed the meter, and there will be less of a need to carry around change. (The only jingle you’ll hear around this time of year, we hope, will be sleigh bells.)

ParkNYC began this week in Midtown Manhattan, and the transportation department has plans to implement the system at all 85,000 metered parking spaces citywide by the end of next summer.

It’s still early, but we downloaded the app and are happy to report that setting it up was quite easy:

• Search for ParkNYC in the app store on your smartphone. (It’s orange and blue, the the official colors of New York City.) Download away.

• Give the app permission to send you notifications — it’ll be able to alert you when your parking session is ending.