Leading Parking Website Revs Up In The USA
JustPark, the number one European website and app for booking parking spaces, is officially launching in the USA this month. Backed by luxury car giant BMW, JustPark will let drivers find and reserve low-cost spots in even the most notoriously difficult cities for parking, from San Francisco to Boston to New York.
The arrival of the company on US shores will shake up an already turbulent area of technology, following the cease and desist order issued to the Monkey Parking app last month by the San Francisco city attorney.
Where Monkey Parking sought to monetize the city’s public spaces illegally, however, JustPark works in collaboration with the parking spaces’ owners, including municipal governments, car parks, churches and even residential homeowners with a spare space on their drive. These spaces are then made available to JustPark’s fast-growing community of drivers to rent through the site and app.
JustPark – previously known as ParkatmyHouse – was founded by Anthony Eskinazi in San Francisco. He was struggling to park at a baseball game while on a ‘Round-the-World’ trip and realized there was a great opportunity for homeowners and drivers – if only they could find a way of making contact. He arrived home in London, built the website from scratch, and the business was born.
Now, with homeowners offering over 100,000 affordable and convenient parking spaces to more than half a million registered drivers across the UK as well as a strong Australian following, the company has commenced a radical expansion into the USA. It has established a satellite office in Manhattan, New York, and is looking to forge partnerships with property owners and car park operators in every major US city by the end of 2014.
The company is already working in partnership with a host of the most prominent parking operators and hotel groups in Europe, including APCOA, VINCI Park and NCP, as well as the Holiday Inn and Sheraton.
Anthony Eskinazi says, “The inspiration behind JustPark came while driving in the USA and I am hugely excited to be bringing the business back to the States. We have already brought parking relief to city-dwellers across Europe; now it’s time for American drivers to realize that mobile technology can solve the age old headache of parking.”