Driving in New York City can be stressful enough, but trying to find somewhere to park on a busy day in Manhattan can be just downright unhealthy.
Pass by a spot on the street and it could take you 20 minutes to get back around the block, or turn into the wrong parking garage and you could be paying through the nose.
Not to worry. As with most things these days, there’s an app for that. Well, there are more than one.
In a market nearly as congested as the streets of midtown, Built In NYC takes a look at some of the players.
SpotHero
Chicago-based SpotHero just hired former Zipcar's John Horton to help become the de facto market leader. SpotHero gives you access to spots in 643 parking facilities around the city — up from 183 in the past year. The app is available for Android, iPhone or on a web browser and allows you to reserve and pay for parking spaces ahead of time. That could mean 15 minutes ahead as you’re driving around town or booking monthly parking way in advance. The site promises rates up to 50 percent off, but that varies depending on when and where you’re booking. You can search for spots near a landmark or restaurant or use the interactive map.
ParkMe
Like SpotHero, ParkMe allows you to book a spot in any of its associated parking garages. You can reserve and pay online and the spot will be kept for you for the specified time period. If you go over the allotted time you can pay the difference in person at the garage. The rates are set by the garage but booking via ParkMe will generally get you a reduced price. ParkMe has more than 84,000 locations in 64 countries.
Betterparking.com
Another parking database that allows you to search for, reserve and pay for spots online or via an app. It only guarantees rates at certain parking garages and the interface uses Bing maps.
PayByPhone
PayByPhone lets you pay for street parking without having to scour your car interior looking for loose change. Once you register your payment details, simply use the app to pay when you park either using the mobile app, sms or a phone call. Parking inspectors can check if a car has paid by looking up the license plate in a database. A trial of the system was introduced in an 18 block area of Belmont in the Bronx in 2013, but there are no concrete plans as yet for a city wide rollout.
