In Wired News, Tony Long brings you "today's lameness du jour: the mercenary public parking space." The object of his annoyance: SpotScout, a Boston startup with an auction system that lets drivers bid online for parking spaces private and public.
It's the latter commodity that has Long all lathered up. In his view, moving public parking from "first-come, first-served" to "pay-to-play" is a sign of radical incivility and a milestone on the road to social decline — not to mention potentially lethal parking rage. "The idea is inherently unfair," he says, and I find it hard to disagree. (Will people be web-bidding on our exhalations next, leaving hapless offline breathers with a lungful of pure CO2?)
What do you think? Are market forces and parking spaces a match made in heaven? Or should we pass along that beautiful spot without looking for an angle?
