Frustrated drivers may not have to look past their smartphones to find accessible and affordable parking.
An iPhone application called Parker that can be used to find parking on the streets of Hollywood has emerged, said Donald Shoup, a UCLA urban planning professor.
Another project is underway in downtown Los Angeles: “ExpressPark,” which is working on installing parking meters and regulating prices to make parking more accessible and time-efficient.
The project has received federal funding, but is being organized by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.
The impetus for these smartphone solutions to parking frustration comes from SFpark, a pilot program in San Francisco that is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
SFpark allows drivers to use a smartphone application that provides information regarding location and price of available parking spaces.
Shoup, who serves as an adviser on the project, said that by regulating the price of curb parking and implementing parking meters and street sensors, drivers will have an easier time finding available spaces.
“Everybody always complains about how long it takes them to find parking, and by implementing this project along with the smartphone application, San Francisco is aiming so that nobody will have to say it took them 25 minutes to find a parking space,” Shoup said.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Nathan Reynolds, a third-year aerospace engineering student. “It’s always a pain trying to find parking at UCLA and Westwood, even for those of us who are willing to pay for curb parking.”
Shoup said a similar parking policy and application should exist specifically in UCLA and in the Westwood Village area.
But the idea has drawbacks, particularly with respect to street safety. Xia Du, a first-year applied mathematics student, said he wonders if parking applications contradict recent laws preventing people from texting while driving.
“It’s simply dangerous,” Du said. “I thought we were discouraged from texting and using our phones while driving. And now they’re trying to get us to use our phones while driving in order to find parking?”