I seldom need to pay for parking down town but thought I would investigate the hot spot parking buzz.  I downloaded the app and entered my car data and then went to purchase some parking time.  As I seldom need to park I thought I would buy $5.00 of parking time.  Whoops.  There is a $1.99 service fee.  Thus I am expected to pay a 40% surcharge and rely on the parking cops to check their tech gizmo to see if I have paid.  (This does not trigger the meter apparently, the parking cop needs to use his gizmo to check some data base).

I think I will just stay with dropping the occasional quarter in the meter if I need to park.