Startup eyes online marketplace for open parking spaces
BOSTON --A century after the automobile hit it big, finding an empty parking spot requires drivers to summon the skills cavemen once used to hunt: Scan the horizon for your quarry, then bag it before someone else zeroes in on your quarry.
A startup company is betting it can chip away at that anachronism and transform the search for parking just as
SpotScout Inc. hopes to create an online marketplace where drivers can not only reserve private spaces in garages and driveways, but also swap public parking spots in real time, with vacant spaces going to the highest bidder.
Analysts who track emerging online applications say the fledgling venture could successfully capitalize on the growing popularity of mobile Web-surfing and big-city parking frustrations.
But they concede SpotScout faces obstacles. For starters, the firm must make online parking searches sufficiently quick and inexpensive to win over a critical mass of consumers willing to abandon the old-fashioned way of simply looking for a curbside spot or garage.
The firm also must overcome problems posed by drivers who don't vacate a space by their expected departure time. And it must ease city officials' concerns over citizens trafficking information about public spots that are available first-come, first-serve and can't be reserved.
But the Cambridge-based company's founder believes there are enough tech-savvy drivers frustrated over parking to generate word-of-mouth buzz and make the venture a success.
"In the 21st century, you shouldn't have to look for a parking space anymore," said Andrew Rollert, a 32-year-old software engineer who serves as SpotScout's full-time CEO. "I hate the term, 'I have to go look for a parking space.'"
SpotScout plans to begin posting information next month about garage and other private parking spots available for reservation in Boston, New York and San Francisco, with eventual rollouts planned in other large cities. SpotScout doesn't expect to launch the auction system for on-street public spots until next year.
The company, with about a dozen employees, is trying to line up its first venture capital deal to finance operations currently funded by individual supporters.
But Rollert says SpotScout has a list of more than 1 million people interested in opening free membership accounts once the service goes live -- a list that includes individuals who sent e-mail requests for notification about SpotScout's startup, and lists of potential customers from SpotScout business partners, including digital mapping services.
SpotScout's arrival follows the emergence of services allowing drivers to find and reserve garage spaces online and over the phone, and electronic displays outside public garages showing the number of spots available.
SpotScout hopes to go further, enabling drivers to post information about their planned departure time from a curbside metered spot and offer the space to the highest bidder. Garages and owners of driveway spaces periodically left vacant also will offer reservations by posting information about times when spots will be empty -- a process the company calls "SpotCasting."
With parking problems in many big cities expected to worsen, analysts see great potential for SpotScout.
"Time is money in this country, even when you look for a parking spot," said Julien Blin, an analyst with IDC.
In Boston, where a residential alley parking space in the city's Back Bay section sold last year for $250,000, some say the time may be right.
"I can see why it would appeal to a lot of people, because parking can be really tough to find," said Bruce Goldstein, 52-year-old accountant from Ashfield whose work brings him to downtown Boston twice a week.
"The idea of selling private spots online is fine. It sounds like a good way for people to find what they need, and a good way for garages to find people to fill their spaces," Goldstein said. "But for public spots that are there for everyone to use, I'm not sure. ... I can imagine some fights breaking out over spots. We've already got road rage, and I can imagine parking rage developing because of this."
Analysts say mobile Web surfing isn't yet widespread enough in the U.S. to make it easy for SpotScout to quickly build up a broad customer base. Recent studies have found only about 10 percent of U.S. mobile phone customers regularly use the devices to surf the Net.
"You're not reaching the mass of people who drive around if you use that application," said Charles Golvin, of
And drivers with an immediate need for a spot may opt to visually hunt rather than go online if SpotScout's application proves cumbersome.
"There's a certain number of cases where people say, 'I need a spot now,' and that's where a quick user interface is critical," said Golvin.
SpotScout plans to meet this month with Boston parking officials, and hold similar talks in New York and San Francisco to discuss public policy concerns. Some fear the service could run afoul of the first-come, first-serve intent of public parking by giving customers with inside information an advantage over others unaware that a spot is about to open up.
"We just want to make sure folks aren't creating an environment where if you sign up for this for-profit service, you're pushing out other good meaning people out of the game here," said Thomas Tinlin, Boston's transportation commissioner. "Onstreet parking is at a precious minimum supply in big cities including Boston, and you don't want to set up a system of the haves and the have-nots."
Rollert says his service will cooperate with cities, and can help reduce traffic from drivers who circle looking for a spot. He believes any legal troubles involved in private transactions for public parking spaces will be cleared up.
"Our society is based on a free flow of information," he said. "There's nothing that prevents me from walking down the street and saying to someone, 'I'm leaving this spot at this time, do you want to know about it?'"
SpotScout hopes to bring the time typically needed to reserve a spot using a mobile phone down to less than a minute -- about the amount of time it took Rollert using a Web-capable cell phone to demonstrate a test version of the service to a reporter while driving recently in downtown Boston.
Rollert logged onto the password-protected system and punched in a destination -- the system allows customers to create a preset list of frequently visited destinations, or punch in an address on the fly if they're looking for parking at a location they haven't driven to before.
After designating the arrival time, the service compiled a list of available nearby parking spots, sorted by such variables as cost and walking time to the final destination, depending on the customer's preferences.
Along with the price for each location and directions via online mapping, the search also showed customer-generated ratings for each parking provider.
Rollert hopes that eBay-style feature will reduce incidents in which customers post information about their departure times and auction off a spot, only to leave late and prevent the winning bidder from moving into the space at the appointed time. So-called SpotCasters also could get a bad reputation by leaving a spot early, making it available for any driver to snap up.
All payments will be made electronically with credit cards or with the online payment service PayPal, with a user's account debited to buy a spot, and credits going to SpotCasters auctioning off spots they leave.
SpotScout plans to keep a 15 percent cut of garage and private parking space transactions, and is still working out how it will make money from auctions of public spots. Rollert says one possibility is posting advertisements from local businesses such as restaurants that could pitch themselves to SpotScout members parking nearby.
"I just think with this being the 21st century, you shouldn't have to look for a parking space anymore," he said. "Let's relegate that to the 20th century."
------
On the Net:
SpotScout: http://www.spotscout.com
