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Saskatoon residents could soon bypass the on-street parking pay stations and use their smartphones instead.

The City of Saskatoon plans to launch the Way-To-Park app on April 5, allowing motorists to pay for parking using a smartphone. The app is also supposed to alert users when their time is expiring and allow them to top up their time if needed.

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As is the case with the parking stations, which replaced meters in 2015, the payment is linked to a vehicle’s licence plate. Motorists will be able to pay from home before they park, and move from spot to spot throughout the city.

The city’s on-street stations allow motorists to pay for parking in city-owned spaces in the downtown, Broadway, Riversdale and Sutherland areas.

The app was supposed to launch in September 2015.

“It’s a natural fit and it’s taken us a lot longer … largely because we want to make sure it is implemented successfully,” the city’s director of community standards, Andrew Hildebrandt, said in an interview. “It’s a virtual (pay) terminal in your hand.”