NBC Bay Area reported on how two major parking apps – ParkModo and Sweetch – have adapted to the city’s rules and regulations. Meanwhile, the parking app MonkeyParking was forced to suspend their operations altogether.
In particular, Sweetch launched “Spot Angels,” a new service that provides free information to users about street closures and street clearings.
Consequently, San Francisco has held off from issuing Sweetch a cease-and-desist letter, but the city attorney’s office is still waiting to meet with the company to go over the details of their new business model.
In accordance with the city’s demands, Sweetch will now be completely free to users. The app’s creators released the code they developed as open source technology called Freetch. Freetch has received international attention from transportation experts and entrepreneurs who are excited to use the free code to help them solve parking problems in other cities.
Early next week, the app founders will launch a new project called “Spot Angels,” which will provide free information to users about street closures and street clearings.
Sweetch co-founder Aboud Jardaneh stressed that the new and improved application will “help San Franciscans avoid getting parking tickets and demonstrate that he and his colleagues are more committed to solving San Francisco’s parking woes than making a profit.”
No, Monkey Parking was not “forced” to do anything. As a foreign-owned and domiciled legal entity, the city had no jurisdiction over them and could not compel them to do anything. The “cease and desist” notice was little more than a polite begging letter.
It appears that Monkey Parking volunteered to comply with the city’s request, at least for now anyway. But there were no teeth to the city’s request for obvious jurisdictional reasons.
The other two entities you cited may be within US jurisdiction, and therefore may deem it more prudent to comply. I am surprised that more of these “sharing economy” entities aren’t offshoring themselves, precisely to avoid the extra-territorial posturing of megalomaniac municipalities who think they own the air-waves, the internet and the free exchange of information.