Organic Parking, a Cambridge startup by former Harvard Graduate School of Design professor Kostas Terzidis, will release an app next month which allows drivers to sell their on-street parking space to other drivers who are looking for a good space.
For example, Lisa is shopping downtown and will leave around 6:30 PM. She puts her parking spot up for sale for 3 dollars on the app. Barry is going out to dinner around that time and wants a good spot downtown, He doesn’t want to circle around looking for a spot. Then he sees Lisa’s parking space for sale and decides to claim her space. Lisa and Barry are able to chat with each other via a private chatroom in the app. For example, Barry says he’s on way and Lisa replies “See you in 5 minutes”. When Barry arrives at the parking spot, Lisa is already in her car and pulls out so Barry can park. Barry is happy that he found the perfect spot and Lisa’s happy that she helped someone.
If you want to sell your parking space, the apps lets you name your own price. Drivers looking for a spot can click on the for-sale spaces on a map and pay for them by credit card or bitcoin. The driver can also anonymously call or chat with the person who has the spot. He can also see the person approaching the space on a map. The person who has the space will have to wait for the other person to arrive.
Organic Parking takes a percentage of the total price of the space. Part of this money will go to credit card fees and the city where the parking space was located. Cities can benefit from such service, especially when you think about traffic congestion issues caused by people looking for a parking space.
The first city to try the app is Boston. Mr Terzidis envisions the Organic Parking app in a number of cities around the world. The success depends on how people will use it. Organic Parking is currently trying to raise funds via Kickstarter.com for further development of the app.
Picture: www.organicparking.com
