Is this a solution to the parking conundrum? Shared parkings arrive in Brussels with the Sharemypark and MyflexiPark applications, which propose to rationalise parking space by renting unoccupied private spaces.

It’s no mystery: cities are saturated by cars. Whether they are moving or parked. In a city like Brussels, 15% of car traffic is due to the endemic lack of car parks in urban centres. As a result, parking assistance applications have multiplied in recent years. Some allow you to dispense with a ticket that you risk losing. Others, based on exchange between motorists, allow you to avoid parking fines. And others are banking on the new shared parking market.

Two applications, Sharemypark and MyflexiPark, allow motorists to rent an unused parking space directly from private lessors. There are multiple benefits: lessors get the most out of their spaces, users save time – and thus pollute less – and local authorities have less need to build new car parks.

The “Airbnb of parking spaces”

The principle is as follows: lessors provide vacant parking spaces that customers can then book on an online platform or with their smartphone. With one major advantage over the municipal offer: the space can be booked in advance. After an online payment, the reservation is confirmed by SMS. No more need to have coins lying around or to find a parking meter.

Sharemypark posts the available spaces directly on a map along with the applicable charge. MyflexiPark already has more than 5,000 members, including many commuters travelling regularly to the city, with an offload parking capacity of more than 200 spaces in Brussels. These spaces are ideally located near to metro, train and bus lines. Charges vary between 1.88 euro and over 4 euros, depending on what part of the city they’re in. Useful and economical, why not try it?

Tags: MyflexiPark, parking meter, shared parking, Sharemypark, smart parking