Residents of this brave old world called Park Slope, Brooklyn, have a problem in common with Manhattan residents: vehicular parking. While they enjoy the Victorian charm of brownstone life, 19th century quaintness at 21st century exorbitance, they would prefer the like of a Lexus over a horse-and-buggy. Unfortunately, even the best laid plans of mice, men, and the socially elite are often thwarted and restricted by the realities of the commonplace world. Alas, when a Park Sloper takes his/ her (for instance) Lexus for a spin around the block, that felicitous motorist, upon returning, may spend the next two hours spinning around many blocks searching for a parking space.
Nevertheless, a solution to these parking woes may be in the offing thanks to a convenient blend of new age technology with that old-fashioned (and often elusive) kindness of strangers. Founded by Nick Nyhan, “Roadify” is a social networking service (a “transportation Twitter,” as he calls it) that will have drivers notify other drivers of available or imminently available parking spaces throughout Park Slope.
The system works like an automatic phone tree. A driver prowling the Slope for a spot pulls out his cell phone and texts “Get” to 95495, which activates the system. Any parking spaces that have become available in the last 15 minutes will be sent in a text response — and if any others are entered in the system in the following 15 minutes, they will be sent as well.
Only 460 people are currently signed up for the system, useful only during the prime time parking hours of 4 pm to 8 pm, according to Nyhan. However, with the availability of a mere 150 parking spaces over the course of day, at Roadify’s peak usage time, the problem remains largely unsolved. “According to a 2007 study, nearly half of the cars on Seventh Avenue are simply looking for a parking space.”
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