Kyle Smyth doesn’t live near Regina’s General Hospital but thanks to an app he’s developing, he has access to driveway parking should he need to park near the hospital.
Smyth, along with his partner Matt Fahlman, are developing Offstreet. He describes it as Airbnb or Uber, but for parking spaces.
“We’re basically leveraging people, businesses, and community centres with excess parking to put their parking spots on our app, and then have people who are looking for parking be able to easily rent them out, and pay remotely via our app,” Smyth explained.
The app is currently in the beta-testing phase so the duo are still working out some technical bugs. They’re also determining how much it will cost to rent a parking space, but said it will be competitive with other parking rates in the city.
Smyth said they will release the app publically once they’re confident it’s responsive and easy to use for users.
So far, four residential parking spaces near the General Hospital are offered on the app.
Dale Orbin, manager of security for Regina Qu’appelle Health Region, is also in charge of parking at the hospital. He said the idea has merit, and would like to learn more about it.
He added that they do monitor parking regularly to make sure they’re making best use of their limited parking space for staff, patients, and visitors.
Ward Six city councillor Joel Murray said this idea could be part of the city’s plan for parking at the new Mosaic Stadium.
Part of this plan includes the potential removal of residential parking permits for Mosaic Stadium events. It’s an issue Murray said he has received many calls about.
“I think it’s really innovative. I think it could be part of the system, absolutely,” Murray said.
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“What I would stress to the developer is that they meet with the city and talk about the current bylaws that we have, and make sure the app fits within those.”
Smyth said they have spoken with the city about regulations.
In a statement, a city spokesperson said they don’t regulate the tenancy of parking on residential lots. The city only regulates where someone can park on a residential lot, for example, not on the front lawn.
Once the Offstreet app makes its way to an app store, Smyth said he and Fahlman plan on expanding where they offer the service.
“We’re hoping to basically bring this from the General Hospital to the Downtown area, and maybe even to the Pasqua Hospital. Once we’re kind of confident with that, we hope to expand to other cities like Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and Calgary,” he said.
The app is currently designed for IPhone compatibility, with plans for Androids phones in the future. Interested people can sign up for the beta-test on their website.
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