Cracking the code on parking

Having focused on aggregating parking data to guide drivers to open spots and providing cities with analytics to improve parking programs for more than a decade, Streetline cofounders Mark Noworolski and Scott Dykstra said their foray into parking solutions began with a seemingly simple observation of the struggle to park outside a Berkeley restaurant more than 12 years ago.

Noworolski said he and Dykstra’s brother, Tod Dykstra, were eating cheesesteak sandwiches and discussing how they could apply a low-power networking and sensor technology Tod Dykstra had been developing to other industries. Though a long list including health services and monitoring industrial equipment flowed from their conversation, Noworolski said the problem unfolding in front of them as drivers circled for parking easily trumped their other ideas.

“We’re looking at the parking and going you know what? This is terribly badly managed,” he said. “Literally, you’re sitting there, eating your cheesesteak looking at what’s going on and … we’re like oh, this needs more research.”

And in doing more research, Noworolski and the Dykstras started to understand just how sought-after street parking spots are. Noting statistics showing some 30 percent of drivers in an average large city are searching for a spot, Noworolski said Peninsula cities and urban centers across the country are taking note, incorporating Streetline’s analytics tools and mobile app for drivers into their parking programs to increase turnover in spots and cut down on the number of drivers circling for parking.

“I think there’s a realization that curb space is actually really valuable real estate,” he said.

Noworolski, Streetline’s chief technology officer, and Scott Dykstra, the company’s vice president of operations, remember well their first forays into installing Streetline’s sensors — some of which resemble enlarged hockey pucks — on stretches of San Francisco streets like the Embarcadero more than a decade ago. Tod Dykstra cofounded the company with his brother and Noworolski, but has since left. It is now led by CEO Gerhard Plaschka.

While sensors are still a core part of the system Streetline has created, Scott Dykstra said it’s expanded over the years to include cameras and information that’s become available online in the years since they started, such as parking meter information and GPS data from cars. Acknowledging the industry has gained momentum with an increasing number of tools contributing to a more holistic picture of a streetscape, Dykstra said many were doubtful of the concept when they first got started.

“When we started, the whole idea of putting a sensor on the street and having to communicate wirelessly by battery power … nobody could believe it,” he said.

Noworolski said the sensor technology is designed to run along city streets for miles with one internet connection and one power source, allowing Streetline to create real-time maps of available parking on busier city thoroughfares as well as garages and lots on corporate campuses. Combined with information on the restrictions and fees for specific spots, the occupancy data is aimed at guiding drivers using Parker, the company’s mobile app, more efficiently toward open spots.

And it can also inform how cities and companies design their parking and enforcement programs in downtowns as close as San Mateo, San Carlos and Redwood City and as far away as Florida. Noworolski said Los Angeles, which has used Streetline analytics for nearly a decade, has been able to adjust parking meter pricing based on Streetline data each month, evening out the demand for hot spots and increasing use of alternatives that might be located around the corner from a driver’s destination. He added the technology can also help cities enforce their parking programs by flagging violations, which can also increase turnover and awareness of parking policies even if it makes drivers wince.

“It makes the system much more efficient, much more equitable and much more fair,” he said. “Even though nobody likes talking about tickets.”

Streetline’s work has changed the perceptions of merchants, some of whom had been staunch advocates of free parking until they saw turnover increase in front of their stores, Dykstra said. That, along with how the company has incorporated new technologies to increase the amount of time saved for drivers, has been among the most gratifying experiences since the company launched in 2006, he added. The Oakland resident said he is looking forward to seeing the technology take shape on the streets of his hometown in the coming year.

For Noworolski, a Burlingame resident, seeing the company grow from celebrating the success of a small stretch of sensors to helping ease the experience of drivers and cities across the country has validated the ultimate impact he’s hoping Streetline has.

“I want to see my taxpayer money spent efficiently,” he said. “I want this valuable resource to be managed efficiently — it’s that simple.”

anna@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106

Note to readers: This article has been amended to reflect Streetline's CEO is Gerhard Plaschka, not Manny Krakaris as previously listed.