Want cheap parking? Apps mark the spots

But like Uber for rides, it’s a murky area

Uber is shaking up the taxi industry. Airbnb is eating into the hotel business. And now companies like Rover, WhereiPark and Honk-Mobile are sprouting up to cash in on empty driveways and parking spaces across Toronto.

Welcome to the sharing economy, now in overdrive, as companies and consumers try to figure out new ways to monetize existing assets.

Grant Brigden and Tim Wootton are working on their Rover Parking app, due to launch in late June or early July, where drivers can rent private spots by the hour. “We want the parking to be cheaper than street parking or lot parking,” said Brigden. “The owners set the price, but we set the parameters.”

That means capping rates at no more than $2 an hour, though an algorithm will also offer a daily maximum rate.

Rover will take 20 per cent to 30 per cent from every transaction, split equally between owner and renter, through fees added to the hourly price.

It plans to offer parking across the city, but is looking to concentrate in such neighbourhoods as Roncesvalles, College St., the Danforth, Yonge and Eglinton, King West and Queen West.

But with the city of Toronto trying to crack down on Uber, the question becomes: Is it legal to rent out a parking space?

Like everything at city hall, it’s not a simple answer. Under the city’s zoning bylaw, the city has required most newer houses — whether detached, semi-detached or a townhouse — to have one parking space. It can be in a garage, backyard or side yard.

“If you don’t have a car, we still require the space to be there,” said Klaus Lehmann, manager of the zoning bylaw project. “That space is under the owner’s control.”

If owners wish to rent out that single space, that’s fine. But you can’t rent out your driveway or line up cars in your backyard. “Once you do that, you become a commercial parking lot. That’s not permitted,” he said.

Such activity is only enforced if someone complains. According to Mark Sraga, the city’s director of investigations, violators could face up to a maximum fine of $5,000, but there have been no such charges in recent years.

Rover is still trying to get off the ground, but other companies are fully operational, including WhereiPark, which arranges parking spots on a monthly basis, and HonkMobile, which helps drivers find, reserve and pay for parking. Jeremy Zuker and Alex Enchin launched WhereiPark last October when they realized there was no central online place to track spots available for rent.

Toronto’s explosive condo growth has made parking even harder to find, with many former surface lots now home to condo developments.

“Parking is one of the budget line items everybody hates,” Enchin said. “Part of our early hypothesis is if people are paying $200 a month, will they walk an extra block or two to save $40 to $50 a month?”

HonkMobile CEO Michael Back, who founded and sold a successful payments company, likens what his firm is doing for parking to what Uber is doing to the taxi industry.

With HonkMobile, users register their licence plates along with payment information, which can include a credit card, bank account or PayPal number. The system is connected to 300 parking lots, mostly in Toronto, with almost 11,000 spaces.

“You can drive in, press a button and pay for parking instead of digging for coins or freezing outside,” Back said.