An Airbnb for parking offers SF spaces for up to $400/month

Katina Jesuitas, a meter maid with the city of Berkeley gives an illegal parker a ticket on Shattuck Avenue. The parking-space rental service ParkingCupid is hoping to capitalize on the limited parking available in Bay Area cities and San Francisco in particular. less Katina Jesuitas, a meter maid with the city of Berkeley gives an illegal parker a ticket on Shattuck Avenue. The parking-space rental service ParkingCupid is hoping to capitalize on the limited parking ... more Photo: Mike Kepka, M Photo: Mike Kepka, M Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close An Airbnb for parking offers SF spaces for up to $400/month 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

A parking version of Airbnb says that homeowners in San Francisco and other cities are making up to $400 a month renting out their unused apartment parking spaces, garages and driveways.

ParkingCupid offers to match those with parking spaces to drivers who can't find a place to park their vehicles. Naturally, spaces in inner-city neighborhoods with limited or no public parking command the biggest fees, but spots near sports stadiums and airports are also in high demand.

Membership, which allows you to post a wanted listing and contact parking hosts, is $15 a month. An upgraded membership with more features is available.

Photos of featured listings — driveways, garages, asphalt rectangles — are promoted on the site.

A brief look at the site's San Francisco listings revealed spaces offered at $75/month to $400/month.

ParkingCupid — founded by Daniel Battaglia, who created the similar ParkingMadeEasy.com.au in Australia — has been around for a couple of years.

It set the market value of America's 800 million car spaces at $20,800 each, a total of $17 trillion dollars, according to PRWeb.

The company operates in the United States, Hong Kong and Canada, but it looks like the service has yet to get established in some cities. For example, a search of the entire city of Dallas brings up only one listing.

Because the company's service deals in private parking spaces rather than public, it appears to be legal. In 2014, an app called MonkeyParking tried to introduce a service that allowed users to auction off public, city-owned parking spots to the highest bidder.

The enterprise, reviled on social media, also earned the wrath of City Attorney Dennis Herrara, who wasted little time in quashing it.

MonkeyParking did not die, however. It currently has an app that allows people to book daily, private spots in "the most horrible neighborhoods for parking" in San Francisco.