Have you ever shown up to a commuter lot and there’s no place to park? A new app on trial in Fairfax County, in partnership with the Virginia Department of Transportation, may fix that problem.
It’s called ParkZen.
“What ParkZen does is the equivalent of Waze, for parking,” said Manos Chatzopoulos, CEO and president of the company.
He said it’s a crowdsourced app that shows you ahead of time if any spots are available.
“The more users that are willing to anonymously share that data within those parking lots alone, the better it gets,” Chatzopoulos said.
Chatzopoulos stressed the app does not track you.
“It only collects that information when you’re inside any of those lots,” Chatzopoulos said.
The app is currently being tested at six lots:
- The Virginia Department of Transportation’s Saratoga Park and Ride lot in Springfield
- Stringfellow Road Park and Ride lot in Centreville
- Horner Road commuter lot in Woodbridge
- Backlick Road Virginia Railway Express (VRE) station in Springfield
- Brooke Road VRE station in Stafford
- Leeland Road VRE station in Falmouth
With a combined capacity of more than 5,000 parking spaces, travelers will be able to park and then transfer to buses, carpools, van pools or VRE trains.
“Commuters have told us that not knowing whether parking is available at commuter lots is a deterrent to using transit, carpools, van pools,” Amy McElwain, program manager for VDOT’s Office of Strategic Innovations, said in a news release.
“Through this app, commuters can optimize the parking experience for themselves and others, enabling everyone to park quickly,” McElwain said.
If the trial period is successful, VDOT will evaluate rolling out the technology for other commuter lots throughout Northern Virginia and the Fredericksburg area starting in spring 2025.