San Franciscans like to share – heck, there are three startups here that will let you borrow your neighbor’s car for a small fee – so it seems like a great place to launch an app that lets you rent someone’s parking space.
Also, finding parking in San Francisco sucks. Enter iPhone app Park Circa, which lets you rent out your parking space to fellow drivers for a low rate or snag a spot on the fly without having to worry about having change for parking meters.
The app, in beta for iPhone and soon to come to Android and Blackberry phones, is free to download on iTunes.
Here’s how it works: owner lists his or her driveway as empty. You need a space, add money to your Park Circa account, cruise by, find a spot listed on the app. Owners set the rates (some as low as $1 per hour), you check in with the app, check out with the app when you leave and the amount is deducted from your tab. The owner gets the money and, the app makers say “everyone is happy.”
If you have a driveway or spot in a highly-trafficked area, at $2 an hour for 4 hours per day, you could make $240 a month, a nice little dent in your car payment or insurance.
It would be great if you could sub-let your parking space, too. As someone who currently rents a parking spot and has had to call the towers more than once, I’d love to be able to rent my space — which people obviously find convenient — and avoid the towing drama.
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
