If you’ve lived in or visited Manhattan, then you’ve probably had the unfortunate experience of circling endlessly in search of that elusive spot. You’ve cursed at the shmo who got lucky and chanced upon a spot just as the car was pulling out; you’ve contemplated “giving up” and paying exorbitant garage fees; you’ve gotten a $100 (or more!) ticket for parking illegally or overstaying your metered welcome; you’ve turned around and gone home (I’ve done it).
I don’t really go to Tel Aviv all that often. In fact, I was last in Tel Aviv about six months ago. But one factor which definitely keeps me away is the sore lack of parking to be found there. An official survey recently undertaken in Tel Aviv which examined the “parking crisis” uncovered the following facts:
- There are 260,000 available spots in the city (includes private parking)
- 360,000 spots are needed for residents and businesses; this does not even include the need for parking for those who visit the city.
- Tel Aviv reaped 180 million NIS (about $43 million) in revenue from tickets last year
The below chart illustrates the crisis; the gray columns represent the amount of spots currently available, while the black represents the amount of spots needed.
Maybe some enterprising entrepreneur will bring SpotScout to Israel.
