Editor’s note: This article was first published in May 2014. MonkeyParking’s availability (San Francisco and Rome only), its expansion plans and the Uber-taxi conflict describe that moment. The app reportedly received a cease-and-desist from San Francisco authorities soon afterwards.
It seems that cities all over the world share the same problem: finding a free parking space, especially at rush hour, is quite a feat. A group of entrepreneurs has created MonkeyParking, an app that does not come without controversy. On the one hand, it helps drivers who are desperate to find somewhere to park; on the other, it gives someone else the chance to make money by putting their free parking space up for sale (at auction).
The idea is simple. The app encourages users to park their vehicle in an area with heavy traffic and few free parking spaces, mark the location of the space on the app’s map and auction it off.
On the other side we have the driver who opens the app to see which spaces are being auctioned in the area they are heading to, and bids for one. For now the app is only available in San Francisco and Rome (the founders are Italian), although they plan to expand to many other cities.
The controversy surrounding this app is that it means privately auctioning off public property and making money from it, which would put money in private users’ pockets that parking companies or city councils, depending on the city we are talking about, would no longer collect.
In principle, it is a business idea that, once again, provides a service between private individuals and cuts out the companies whose business is to make money from it. That is the case with the Uber app, which has taxi drivers up in arms, since it is a taxi service between private individuals, or with Airbnb, which offers accommodation between private individuals.
The economic crisis, and the lack of resources or interest on the part of public bodies in solving everyday problems, are giving rise to all kinds of inventions built around saving money, bartering and paying or earning money between individuals, at a much lower price than we would pay if we turned to the traditional service. Even so, the idea sounds interesting, although it could probably be adapted or tweaked to make it more attractive.
Further reading
- Ideas to earn extra money from home or online
- 18 business ideas with almost no investment
- The future of earning money from private tutoring, thanks to Google
Featured image: Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
