Is the future of parking digital?

For ~$1.3m, you could buy this taxidermy-filled house in Minnesota. Or a single parking spot in a luxury building in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong isn’t the only city with pricey parking:

• In 2015, 2 luxury buildings in SoHo had 13 parking spots between them, available for $1m each.
• A tandem spot for 2 cars in Boston’s Back Bay sold for $560k in a 2013 auction.
• In 2016, a spot behind Hyde Park Gardens in London hit the market for £350k ($495.5k, according to the current exchange rate).

But parking habits are changing

A 2018 Deloitte report found that parking in the US generated ~$30B annually, while the average driver spent ~17 hours per year looking for it. In a city like New York? 107 hours.

But Deloitte also predicted a shift in parking habits thanks to ride-sharing, e-bikes and e-scooters, and autonomous vehicles.

To keep up, parking operators will need technology…

… to improve the customer experience and stay versatile.

Example: Get My Parking, a Platform as a Service (PaaS) startup, recently announced $6m in funding to help digitize the parking industry, which includes things like:

• Apps that let drivers find and pre-book parking
• Ticketless entry and exit
• Automated, cash-free payments
• Digital loyalty and subscription programs
• Integration with other services, like EV charging stations

Speaking of places to put cars, check out this car vending machine.