Startup looks to help take the guesswork out of parking
Monitoring tech could benefit both garages and drivers
Darren Mondezie and Johnathan Neverson are not the first to try mixing parking with modern technology, but they are looking to be the most convenient with their startup, Liberty Parker.
The Stratford-based business focuses on making parking and finding available spaces easier with their parking garage guidance system, the Parker Marker. They created the program and physical device to help parking garage owners and staff monitor and use every space they have.
“We’re aiming to do something state of the art and something new,” Mondezie said, adding the device will help staff and lot owners monitor vacant and occupied spaces in real time.
In the past, the Stratford residents said garage staff would think they were utilizing the entire lot when they would have roughly 85 percent occupancy, which would ultimately hurt their bottom line.
The Parker Marker works as a sensor and is screwed into individual parking spaces while garage owners and staff use a smartphone- and tabletc-ompatible guidance system to keep tabs on vacancy and occupancy. As a car pulls into the space, the marker will register it as occupied until the drive pulls back out.
Along with optimizing garage use, Neverson said the Parker Marker was designed to benefit drivers. While garage staff can use the program to monitor their spaces, drivers can use the program to locate open spots using Parker Markers from home, cutting their search time out of the equation.
“I think that gives people an advantage,” Neverson said
As an accounting and business management student at Southern Connecticut State University, Neverson, who graduated this year, said one of the biggest problems he and his classmates faced was finding parking when they were pressed for time.
“As you start looking around for that parking spot, you realize you’re not going to be able to make that exam in five minutes,” he said.
Neverson teamed up with his childhood friend Mondezie, who graduated from Fairfield University with an engineering degree, to address what they considered an underserved sector.
For urban areas like downtown Bridgeport, which has its share of parking struggles, Mondezie said the Parker Marker system could be a viable solution to maximize the use of spaces on streets.
“It wouldn’t be difficult to bring it into Bridgeport or any of the cities, for that matter,” he said. “I think the main thing is introducing it to the cities for them to feel comfortable because this is something that’s going to be brand new.”
The duo is looking to secure funding for the product line and clientele in different cities.
While their first product is focused on parking garages and lots, Mondezie and Neverson said they are exploring ideas for curbside models. Development of that product hasn’t begun.