New blue-green zone parking app lets drivers go paperless and protect the environment

foto 2021 aparca sense paperNew blue-green zone parking app lets drivers go paperless and protect the environment
Consell de Formentera premiere Alejandra Ferrer and mobility chief Rafael González gave a press conference today to present a new app that allows motorists to add time for metred “blue and green zone” parking directly on their phones.

“We want islanders to take to the new app because of the built-in environmental benefits of paperless parking”, confided Ferrer, “but it’s also a time-saver: motorists now no longer have to spend time printing parking passes”.

How it works
The free Flowbird Parking app can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play. Once the download is complete, submit your vehicle details into the app and go to a parking metre to enter your vehicle plate number. Rather than getting your parking pass from the metre, you’ll receive it on your mobile phone, where you can also set an alert to warn you when your time is almost up.

The mobility chief described the app’s three major benefits as forgoing printed passes, sparing drivers the trip back to their vehicle, and getting an alert when passes expire.

González said that people who preferred to do without the app would be able to get paper passes as they have done till now; the only difference is that now there’s no need to leave them in their vehicle.

Communications push
President Ferrer reminded islanders that the pay-to-park system started in La Savina in 2015 in response to that town’s parking crunch before gradually spreading to other towns.

The Consell has put together a video reminding drivers about the genesis of the local metred parking rollout and showing them all that’s new with the new app.

A tutorial on how to use Flowbird Parking has also been posted here., which can be seen here. Consell officials have hailed the collaboration of IB3, which supplied past images of the island to illustrate La Savina’s parking woes pre-blue zone.

Revamped website: zonablava.com
Details about the new paperless system are in Catalan, Spanish, English and Italian and can be found on the zonablava.com site. Tourists can use the app and pay by credit card. For Formentera residents, blue zone parking remains free of charge.

Promotional materials have been posted around the island, including at bus stop displays, and parking attendants carry explanatory brochures on hand.

Visitors to the website can also find information about vouchers which the Consell de Formentera makes available to urban tourist accommodations so guests can enjoy 25% off the cost of parking.

Checking parking authorisation
The zonablava.com website also features a section where you can enter your vehicle plate number and check whether your parking authorisations are in order and plan ahead by seeing in advance when they expire. Remember: renewals can be done online at the Virtual Citizen Information Office (OVAC) or in person and by appointment at the Citizen Information Office (OAC).

24 March 2021
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera