It’s hard not to have noticed the recent surge in parking-related apps. After the damning company that was Haystack failed to gain any traction in the City of Boston, several startups sprouted up trying to innovate in a sector in dire need of positive changes. The latest, poised to launch later this month, is called Veer.
Similar to the likes of SPOT and SpotHero, Veer is almost a combination of the two. SPOT is based on the principle that the owner of a private parking spot owner can rent it out, not unlike what Airbnb does for apartments. SpotHero aggregates the closest and cheapest parking garages.
Veer, though, not only takes into account price and proximity, but also the length of time a driver would park for.
Co-founder Jonathan Corbin told me that, as was the case with the founders of the aforementioned startups, he conceived the idea for Veer out of sheer frustration with parking. In lamenting with friends about the trials and tribulations of trying to park, they realized change was not only inevitable but imminent.
“What we discovered is that there is no easy method of locating off-street parking, the price charts are confusing and not always visible before pulling into a garage, and there is no easy way to find out if a garage or lot has space available without driving there to find out,” said Corbin. “In order to solve these problems we had to collect data on the location of each garage, their pricing, and operating hours by walking up and down every street in Boston, finding each garage or lot, and recording all of the information needed to aggregate the data and streamline the parking experience.”
The app – though not yet available on iOS and Android, users can submit their email addresses for updates – guides a driver using turn-by-turn voice navigation to the front entrance of the garage or lot.
In hopes of avoiding the same fate as Haystack, which attempted to circumvent City Hall before setting up shop in Boston, Corbin and his team have reached out to the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, which oversees much of the city’s innovation, to collaborate on best practices and other logistical information.
Interestingly, though, Corbin notes he’s heard only crickets from city officials
“Unfortunately we have not met with City Hall Officials yet despite reaching out to the office of Urban Mechanics multiple times,” he said. “We have not received a response from them.”
Perhaps the New Urban Mechanics will respond soon but either way, Corbin is eyeing the end of the month for the launch of Veer.
