Carbon County hopes to roll out a pay-by-text option for parking in the county lot in Jim Thorpe in time for the Fall Foliage Festival in October.

The county commissioners on Thursday entered an agreement with Butts Ticket Company of Cochranville to enable the pay-by-text option, which allows people to skip the line at kiosks and pay for parking from their phones.

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said they’ve been seeing significant lines at three of the parking kiosks, which adds to visitor frustration.

With this feature, visitors will be able to come up to a kiosk, see a pay-by-text sign, and simply text “park” to a number on the sign, he said.

“Within 30 seconds to a minute, they could be moving off and getting into downtown Jim Thorpe and historic district,” Lukasevich said.

Visitors will not have to download an app, or stand in line waiting for a kiosk in the county parking area, which is adjacent to the train station and access to the D & L trail, he said.

Once visitors text the number on the sign, they will receive an immediate response providing a secure link. Following the link, the visitor enters their vehicle’s license plate, chooses the length of stay and enters their payment information.

Visitors will also receive a text notification before the time expiration, allowing them to avoid a parking violation.

“The aspiration is to have that in place for fall foliage, so we don’t have the backup in the queues, and also I think it’s a safety issue,” Lukasevich said.

“We want to get people out of the lot, where the cars are, and get them onto the D & L trail and to safe pedestrian crossings,” he said. “I think it’s a good thing that we have the opportunity to implement.”

Chris Barrett, president and CEO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, who was providing the commissioners an update on Thursday, said they are working on things related to parking on maps on the Jim Thorpe Tourism Agency website.

Barrett offered to add anything the commissioners would like to site regarding parking and services to help people coming to the area.