http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/business/12newpark.html
In the years that I have been coming to this University, how nice would it have been to have a SmartPhone to alert me of available parking spaces? Two years ago, in one of my Business classes, we were to present a plan that would convince students to support the growth of this campus. My group and I devised a parking system that would send alerts to students’ cell phones about available spaces and empty lots. Low and behold, San Francisco beat us to it!
I am completely for this real-time parking notification system. Although the start up costs are great (i.e. $95.5 million for two years), the long term costs are insignificant. For example, studies found that 28 percent to 45 percent of traffic in New York City was generated by people circling the blocks to find a parking space. Researchers also found that in just a 15-block area of Manhattan, drivers put an average of 366,000 miles on their car in only one year. They also found that in a small business section of Los Angeles, people cruising for parking spaces was equivalent to 38 trips around the world, burned 47,000 gallons of gasoline, and produced 730 tons of carbon dioxide.
Not only are these figures alarming, but they are also dangerous for our society in the future. If these numbers are only a small sample of certain cities, imagine what the entire U.S. produces while searching for parking spaces daily. These numbers do not even account for typical city or highway travel. It reflects only time spent merely looking for a place to park!
A SmartPhone or, perhaps, even illuminated displays at the entry of each lot could save us time, money, and our future well-being. This technology could become a life-saving tool, and when put into perspective, the future implications on our society are far greater than expenses incurred at startup. Yes, it is an expensive program, but it is something we should consider implementing for the sake of our future.
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