Written by Jay Fortner and edited by Richard MacManus
We’ve all been there. You’re in a rush, you need to find a parking spot - and there's nothing available! Well, how about finding a parking spot on your mobile phone; or maybe even reserving a spot from home via your browser? This kind of Web-based car parking solution is in its infancy, but we think this solution is going to change the way people park their cars - especially when in a rush!
So far, the early leaders in this space are the UK based Findacarpark.com, parkatmyhouse.com, peasy.com, the highly touted spotscout.com, and the Chicago-based ParkWhiz.com (although ParkWhiz has yet to fully launch their service).
As a resident of a downtown metropolis, agonizing over parking spots is a re-occurring theme. I would find tremendous value in being able to secure and reserve parking, rather than driving around the block hoping for an open spot to appear. Additionally, I see great value in aggregating the costs of parking from various lots in similar areas, providing more transparency in the industry - especially if someone is relatively new to a city. Why park at one lot if you knew you could save a couple of bucks parking across the street? This could force parking lot owners to compete more smartly over parkers, providing lower prices to consumers.
Another potential marketplace is that property owners could cash in and provide an easy online shop to rent their space for parking. This would be extremely lucrative to those who lived near stadiums and highly traffiked landmarks.
So yes, online or mobile parking solutions could be very disruptive to the existing parking industry.
These services aim to take a small percentage of the parking marketplace and/or provide targeted advertising through the mobile phone and web browser. Also I think that layering in sponsored events and activities with searches, could be very powerful - if they can better target me by my previous search history. In addition, I expect these online parking services to be mashed in to e-vite services and event 2.0 sites, as an added-value tool - like we commonly see with Google Maps. For example I’d love to get a classified listing on Craigslist, and click a link to see a Google Map and nearby parking in that area.
SpotScout process
Enforcement: As with any service that allows user-generated content, it is easily prone to gaming and fraud. I suspect that the feedback and comments features that have made eBay so successful, is also necessary on online parking sites - to maintain the integrity of transactions. Those with long histories of ethical transactions should get promoted to the top of search results for a given area, and power users need to be supported so that they continue to frequently offer parking inventory.
Use of mobile phone: If I’m in a rush, do I have time to type in coordinates on my mobile phone? Would it be too distracting to try and find the address to a parking spot and drive at the same time? Long-term to get around this pitfall, we may need these services to be integrated into the navigation systems in cars.
Does the value lie in the market, or the aggregation of information? I’ve been tossing back and forth for a while on this question. I think the true value that will make this service viral is empowering every home in a high traffic area to have the potential to make money. By matching up parking spots with consumers and making it easier for them to make reservations in areas where it seems impossible to find a spot, this is where the hidden value lies in this market. What do you think?
If GYM (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft) doesn’t enter this space by developing their own solutions, then they will probably enter through acquisition. So in the US at least, ParkWhiz and Spotscout have to move fast - because my local search would be enhanced significantly if I knew where to park too!
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I can't find a citation, but I believe Estonia has had a state-delivered version of these sorts of things for a few years now, but done via SMS.
Posted by: Peter Cooper | February 21, 2007 7:18 PM
Hi there.
My name is Nik Donets and I'm the founder of another parking-search web-site - NoMeters.com. We are based in Canada and are still in closed alpha, although we are already accepting applications for beta accounts.
Thank you.
Posted by: Nik Donets | February 22, 2007 12:57 AM
I'd just like to add that Croatia was one of the first places -- if not the first -- where you could pay for parking by mobile phones. The service has started in 2000 or even before in Zagreb and has since spread to other Croatian towns.
Posted by: Berislav Lopac | February 22, 2007 9:37 AM
I've blogged about these types of companies, and many other parking-related topics, on my Parking 2.0 blog http://www.parking2.com
You write "I think the true value that will make this service viral is empowering every home in a high traffic area to have the potential to make money." - while that may be true, it faces two huge hurdle:
* In many cities, paid parking operations need to be registered as businesses with the city, and in some cities they need to pay parking taxes. Will individual homeowners be willing to endure all this paperwork for the relatively few dollars they'll earn?
* In all cities (AFAIK) the space in front of your driveway is not yours to sell! While you could sell space actually on your property, do you have that space, and are you willing to let strangers come and park on it?
Another enforcement concern related to the sale of personal or part-time spaces is what happens when a parked car fails to depart when it was supposed to? Do you have to wait for someone to be inconvenienced by the parker, then call a tow truck?
Posted by: Cooper Marcus | February 22, 2007 9:58 AM
Cooper, interesting points. While there are tremendous hurdles, how enforceable is it to track who sets up an online shop for the parking spots that they own? Would the city actually go after these folks for a couple of dollars in tax revenue? ..... I'll definitely add you to my feedreader. :)
Posted by: Jay Fortner | February 22, 2007 11:55 AM
Two comments: (1) in Germany some cities allow to pay for parking using a cell phone. However, this typically does not include reservation.
(2) Letting people park on your property (especially if you have lots of free space, like a company over the weekend) could raise questions about liability in case of an accident on your property.
Posted by: Christian Lindig | February 22, 2007 1:22 PM
very interesting
Posted by: YOO | February 25, 2007 2:55 AM
My name is Emad Salameh. I created a solution to easily, simply find a parking spot ANYWHERE. Currently under development. I started a blog https://spotforecast.blogspot.com
Posted by: Emad | February 27, 2007 9:58 PM
My name is Emad Salameh. I created a real simple parking solution to find parking spots ANYWHERE. It's the FIRST of it's kind.
Currently under development. I started a blog http://spotforecast.blogspot.com/
To pre-register send an e-mail to: preregister@spotforecast.com
This solution is created to help people find parking in the city by inventing a mash up between maps, city parking, and technology.
Send me an e-mail to preregister or leave a comment or e-mail.
Looking forward to hear your feedback and suggestions.
Posted by: Emad | February 27, 2007 10:12 PM
I really don't see anyone making a money at this?
Posted by: Sell Car | March 8, 2007 1:02 PM