Getting started is easy!
Download the HotSpot app on your smartphone from the App Store or GooglePlay.
To learn how to park with HotSpot, watch this video: How to Park with HotSpot
Now you are ready to park with HotSpot!
Parking enforcement is based on plate numbers, so you need to add your vehicle to your account.
Some points to ponder before you start adding your vehicle:
Adding Your Vehicle on your HotSpot Mobile App:
Adding Your Vehicle using the HotSpot Web Dashboard:
Enter your vehicle’s details in the right panel, and click Save Vehicle.
Our memberships are broken down into premium and basic:
In the following municipalities, the memberships above will vary: Halifax Regional Municipality, The City of Barrie, and the City of Ottawa..
Are you a CAA member?
*Valid CAA Membership required. Premier benefit available to CAA Atlantic Members in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland & Labrador.
Premium members have more control and convenience when parking by:
If you are a new user, it will prompt you to select a membership plan as part of the registration process.
If already registered:
Your membership will be charged to the credit card associated with your account. Your next billing date and cost will be displayed on the next page, you can cancel your membership at any time to avoid a charge on your next billing date by clicking on ‘Cancel membership’.
We can be found in many Canadian cities, towns, airports and lots as well as some American cities. You will see HotSpot signs at lots that have partnered with us. All HotSpot Parking connected meters will have a HotSpot Parking sticker on the side of the meter.
Refunds are available only to Premium members however we do understand that mistakes happen, that is why we have implemented a 3 minute grace period for cancellation. Once a session is started, a 3:00 minute timer will appear on screen, if your session is cancelled within that time frame, you will be issued a full refund to your wallet.
No, the membership is used only for hourly parking, if you are using HotSpot for transit or permit services, no membership is required.
On the parking screen, under the city selection field there is a section that reads ‘This session will be charged to your’ with two options to select from, Wallet and Credit Card. If you want to use wallet funds to pay for your parking, make sure you select ‘Wallet’ as your method of payment.
The wallet is used primarily for hourly parking however you can also use wallet funds to pay for parking permits or make membership payments. To use the wallet, you will need to turn on the ‘Use wallet’ feature by selecting the icon on the upper left hand corner and clicking on App Settings from the drop down menu, there will be a ‘Use Wallet’ feature available to toggle on.
When a parking session cost is less than $1.00, our payment processor will not be able to charge a credit card directly for this transaction therefore it will need to be paid for using wallet funds.
Wallet funds cannot be used to purchase transit passes, this can only be done using a credit card directly.
Press Yes and then Okay to confirm.
Yes, we accept VISA debit cards, we also accept prepaid credit cards.
To remove a credit card, press Remove under the tile for the card you want removed.
Don’t worry! Parking paid with HotSpot won’t appear on the meters and the parking officers know this. If a parking officer is checking your vehicle and sees that the meter is flashing “0:00”, they will check your license plate to see if you’re a HotSpot user. To ensure that you don’t get a ticket, double check that your license plate on your HotSpot account doesn’t have any typos.
The total savings is an indicative total of how much you have saved since using the app, it is not an accessible pool of funds. Each time you refund a session, the unused time is refunded into your wallet, when you start a new parking session, these recycled funds are used to cover the cost.
In the HotSpot mobile app:
On the HotSpot website:
The receipts are emailed to the email address that is associated with your account.
It’s easy! This video shows you how: Riding Transit with HotSpot
Using transit with HotSpot is easy, just follow these steps:
HotSpot has designed a ticket saving system which allows paid HotSpot users the ability to automatically extend a previous parking session upon an officer scan of plate if their session has expired within the last 30 minutes. For example, if a session ends at 1:30 and the plate is scanned at 1:50, it will extend the session up to one hour from the time of expiry therefore it would be extended to 2:30.
The max time on metered parking is enforced by your city to keep traffic moving through busy downtown areas. Parking longer than the max time is considered to be meter feeding and is a violation of the Motor Vehicle Act. You can contact either HotSpot support or your city to dispute a ticket you feel was issued in error.
You can add multiple cars to your HotSpot account, but can only park one car at a time per each account. If you have more than one car on your account, ensure that the Parking screen on the mobile app shows the license plate for the car you are trying to park. If it is not correct, please change it. Parking enforcement is based on plate numbers.
First you need to add your ticket in the app.
Enter the dollar amount of the ticket and click Okay.
If you are purchasing a permit for the first time, first you need a HotSpot account with a vehicle and a payment method.
Note: You don’t need a HotSpot membership to purchase permits and you can set payments to come directly from your credit card.
Purchasing for a Permit Using the HotSpot Mobile App:
Paying for a Permit Using the HotSpot Web Dashboard
When you purchased your permit, you chose to have it automatically renewed. Now you want to change that setting. No problem!
Note: Not all parking lots allow for automatic parking renewal. If auto-renewal is not available for your lot, the Auto Renew toggle is not shown on your permit details page.
How to Enable/Disable Automatic Permit Renewal Using the HotSpot Mobile App:
How to Enable/Disable Automatic Permit Renewal Using the HotSpot Web Dashboard:
Parking permit enforcement is based on license plate number. It is important that the plate associated with the permit is accurate. If you rent a car or park a different vehicle, you will need to change the plate on your permit to avoid getting ticketed or towed.
Changing the Plate Number on my Permit Using the HotSpot Mobile App:
Changing the Plate Number on my Permit Using the HotSpot Web Dashboard:
If you plan to pay for parking with the HotSpot app, yes! Parking enforcement is based on your license plate. Enforcers check your plate to verify that you paid. If you are driving a rental or another vehicle, your plate won’t show up in their system as being paid and you will be ticketed.
You have a HotSpot account, but don’t remember your password. No need to worry! It’s easy to reset your password so that you can log in and purchase your parking permit.
Resetting Your Password on the HotSpot Mobile App:
If you use the HotSpot mobile app:
We will send you a link to reset your password!
If you use the dashboard on the HotSpot website:
We will send you a link to reset your password!
The real time parking map allows users to easily locate available parking in their city based on selected criteria. Simply select the Find Available Parking button to display a live map of parking locations. By toggling on the Live Data icon, an easy to read color shaded map will be displayed to quickly identify vacancy levels for various parking locations. If you hover over a specific area, it will display additional details such as max hours, hourly rates and exact number of available spots. Once you have found your desired parking location, select the Pay button to auto-fill the correlated HotSpot ID into the meter number section of the HotSpot app, select your time and press Park to start your session.
This video shows you how this process works: Real Time Parking Map- How It Works
The real time parking map is considered to be a premium membership feature with the exception of the Municipality of Halifax in which this functionality is available at no additional cost.
This product operates by integrating parking maps for each location which requires linking each physical parking location in these maps to a corresponding HotSpot ID. HotSpot intends to expand this service to all locations, however this process takes time. We appreciate your patience while we work to create the infrastructure needed for this expansion.