You Leavin' ?
It's 1AM on a Thursday night in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. I'd been circling the blocks for two hours trying to find a street parking spot. I see the same cars circling the blocks with me competing for a parking spot. I watched five spots get taken that night because I circled back a few seconds too late each time. Five. My wife is texting me, "Are you still looking for a park??" "Yes!"
Average time a NYC driver spends searching for parking every year — the most of any U.S. city. About $2,243 per driver in wasted time and gas. 4.5 full days, gone. (INRIX Parking Pain Report)
The church parking lot right across the street from me is completely filled. Even if I wanted to park there, there's a long waitlist of drivers waiting and it costs $300 a month. I wouldn't even be able to afford that on top of the high rent prices. I should just be thankful I'm able to afford a car. I went online looking for anything else. A driveway I could rent, a parking pad, a private lot, anything. There was nothing. No listings anywhere. It barely exists in New York, but more than 50% of the driveways near my apartment were empty. What a waste.
So I did what every New York driver does. I pulled up next to every car with someone sitting in it and asked, "You Leavin'?"
They weren't.
I asked maybe five or six other drivers that night and kept getting the same reaction, that pointer finger wave, no. They had just parked and beat me to it.
I ended up finding a spot on a block with street cleaning starting at 8AM later that day. I checked the 311 website praying alternate side parking was suspended for any reason and it was not. I overslept and got a street cleaning ticket.
That's how most of my nights ended and I was sick of it.
Over $104M in fines. 90% go to regular passenger cars, not commercial fleets. Regular people just trying to park near their homes. (Source: CityLand NYC, citing NYC Council Member Restler's office)
How Does Spotti Work?
Spotti is a navigation system that knows where you can park. It has every alternate side parking rule in New York City built into it, so while you're driving, you can see which street parking spots are legal right now.
When a driver is about to leave their spot, they can broadcast it. Nearby drivers get a notification and can navigate straight to it before anyone else grabs it. The driver who shared the spot earns a reward for doing it.
That's all "You Leavin'?" ever was. One driver asking another driver for help.
Spotti just makes it work — without the guessing and the awkward window roll down to ask the stranger if they're giving up their spot.
Your Spot Is Waiting.
Street parking in New York is technically free and technically public, but finding it has always been every driver for themselves. Spotti is the opposite of that. Share your spot, get rewarded. Find a spot, skip the 1AM 311 prayer. Drivers helping drivers, block by block.
I built this in Brooklyn because nobody else was going to.
Stop circling the block.