What is ParkBubble?

ParkBubble is a new platform for sharing your unused driveway, empty parks or vacant spaces.

“Why not have ParkBubble give you the ability to make some extra cash that could help you go on that summer holiday, buy that new instrument or take your partner out for a nice dinner?” says local entrepreneur Torben Landl.

The concept was born out of the frustration with inner-city parking. Co-Founder Torben Landl had recently arrived back in Auckland after living a summer of convenience in Gisborne to find that meeting someone at a cafe in Ponsonby was no easy feat! While he searched high and low for a park near the cafe, he couldn’t help but notice the number of empty parking spaces and driveways just sitting there unused.

Wouldn’t it be great if he could just park in one of those? Torben teamed up with Co-Founder Ewart Maclucas who brought the technical skills and background to build the platform and ParkBubble was born. Since then Foundry has come on board as the seed investor. The businesses Foundry invests in make life flow better for us all, many of which are at the heart of our sharing economy, such as ParkBubble. Foundry invests its talent, experience and capital behind the smarts that connect people, data and automation so that we can all do more with what we already have.

“Parking in Ponsonby is a nightmare, we want to change that and make it easier!” The ParkBubble platform comes together in a web application that is live and ready to use now. The application facilitates the communication, co-ordination and sharing of parks between members of the community. It organises and publishes parking opportunities, enables commuters to search for suitable spaces in a given neighbourhood by location, time available and price, provides the option to pre-book the desired park and facilitates payment between the parties.

Since establishment, ParkBubble has acquired parks in key inner-city areas. Ponsonby in particular has been a key focus. ParkBubble will offer both short term and longer term parks that are more cost effective and convenient with the ability to pre-book so whether someone is looking for a space on an ongoing basis for say five days or more, or are simply looking for a park near their favourite restaurant or shop for a period of 30mins - 8 hours, ParkBubble will provide the solution.

The ParkBubble customer is a commuter who works or plays in the Auckland City Centre. They want to live the inner-city life without being saddled by the expense of owning property. More often than not, however, they can’t find a park when they want one near their work or desired location, whether it be a restaurant, shop or a friend’s house.

On the supply side, the ParkBubble customer is someone who has a parking space that sits empty for either all or part of the day. It could be a personal off-street park or a facility associated with business, retail, sporting and recreation uses with low occupancy rates. They can empathise with the commuter not being able to find a park, as they experience the same issues when they travel to other parts of the Auckland CBD. Being a customer of ParkBubble enables them to make some additional cash from their under-used asset.

The shared parking model has seen great success overseas and with the heightened sense of community in Auckland, Torben can see how this success will be emulated in New Zealand. After all, sharing is the new owning! “The days of ownership are fast being replaced by the new sharing economy.”

If you have a space you want to list, are looking for that regular park next to work or want to save time when you head out to meet friends go to www.parkbubble.com

 P24 Torben Landl of ParkBubble