New App Aims To Help With Parking, Avoid Tickets In Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA — Parking in and around Center City Philadelphia can be brutal. With varying time limits, loading only zones, no parking during certain times, and more, the Philadelphia Parking Authority has ample opportunity ro generate parking ticket revenue in the area.

But a new app called SpotAngels is live in the city and it aims to help drivers find parking and, maybe even more importantly, avoid getting tickets.

Call "Waze for parking," SpotAngels is a community-based parking app that helps drivers find parking and avoid tickets.

In 2018, the app has saved drivers in cities such as San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Washington D.C. more than $7.5m on street cleaning tickets as well as time and money finding parking.

SpotAngels also shows street parking as well as provides you with alerts on parking rules so you never get a ticket.

"A few of our early users got really excited about SpotAngels in Philly," Aboud Jardaneh, co-founder of SpotAngels, said. "It makes a lot of sense as parking signs are among the most confusing in the country so you never know where you can park on street."

SpotAngels features a crowdsourced map that shows the location of all street parking spots and garages, as well as detailed rules and prices kept up-to-date by users.

It includes local specifics, such as Philadelphia’s Residential Parking Permits.

In the current coverage area including Center City and Southwest Center City, SpotAngels counted a total of 20,377 legally parkable street parking spots of which 7,456 street spots that are free of charge. Those free spots are mostly in the Southwest area.

Image via Shutterstock