An Italy-based startup is rolling out an app that offers San Franciscans the pleasure of being paid to leave.

MonkeyParking allows drivers departing prime street parking spots to auction off the city-owned real estate to other app users, who agree to pay anywhere from $5 to $20 for the ability to stop circling the block.

The app, first reported by Uptown Almanac, is an intuitive idea — though one that city officials aren’t sure is legal.





Parking is already a tense topic in San Francisco. Add to that the use of public space by for-profit companies and you’re going to get some unhappy reactions.



.@MonkeyParking No, you are trying to monetize public parking spaces and it is disgusting. — Alex Halpern (@HalpernAlex) May 2, 2014

I wonder if @MonkeyParking‘s next product will be to let people sell their seats on #SFMuni. — EC (@EC) May 4, 2014



Critiques run the gamut: Does the app separate the haves and have-nots by making it possible for only people with money to nab the best spots in the city? Should any profits from such a venture go back to the city and efforts to improve its infrastructure?

@MonkeyParking Because then that money can be used to improve public land and infrastructure. Your app puts it back in motorist’s pockets. — Jackson West (@jacksonwest) May 2, 2014



Paolo Dobrowolny, chief executive and co-founder of MonkeyParking, told The Chronicle he thinks those reactions are unfair. He said his company is just a facilitator between those looking for parking spots and those who need some incentive to leave a space.

“We’re just providing information when someone is leaving,” he said. “That is valuable information for everybody.”

He disagrees that the app would leave behind those unable to pay up to $20 each time they need to step out of their car.

“It’s a fair business for anybody,” Dobrowolny said. “It’s not just for rich people. If you think you can get that money back when you leave that parking spot, you can earn back the money when you leave the spot.”

He said the company is still in a testing period in San Francisco and will not take commissions on any deals — for now.

MonkeyParking tried out two other business models in its hometown of Rome — one that tried to incentivize those with parking spots to leave by turning parking into a game (offering drivers virtual bananas to give up their spaces) and one that operated as a chat room for people looking for parking.

They found that paying for a parking space was the best incentive to get people to give up their spots, and that people were willing to pay to end their search.

But if MonkeyParking is just a facilitator, it’s still in the same game as short-term home-rental sites like AirBnb and VRBO — but with public space as the commodity. And according to City Attorney Dennis Herrera, those facilitators contribute to a “housing crisis of historic proportions.”

The City Attorney’s office is investigating whether MonkeyParking’s business model of making a profit off public space is legal, said Gabriel Zitrin, an agency spokesman.

“So far, all we’ve determined for sure is that it’s extremely weird,” he said.

Paul Rose, a spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, said parking officials are also looking into concerns about the parking app.

Dobrowolny said the objections are overblown. He said the app can enforce time limits to prevent spot-hoarding for profit, and that the company will generally do its best to be “fair.”

“If it’s faster to get a parking spot, or if someone was leaving in any case, that is an improvement to urban city living overall,” he said. “We’re not trying to create this strange thing that they’re saying we are.”