ParkWhiz was recently written about in Entrepreneur.com. The article, which came out just before the baseball season began, provides a good overview of ParkWhiz, highlighting our vision and longer-term goals. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, what are you waiting for?!

And remember, if you’re driving out to Wrigley Field and don’t want to miss that first pitch, make sure and reserve your parking ahead of time! Hot dog and popcorn are on you.

Last week Google and the Chicago Transit Authority announced a partnership that integrates mapping and directions through Google Maps and the CTA website. This is Google’s 4th city integration (Portland, Seattle, and SF) and largest to date. Kudos to both parties on getting this done, showcasing the workings and benefits of public-private partnerships.

The beginning of the baseball season is around the corner.  (Ok, so it’s technically already underway with the Red Sox clashing with the A’s in Japan.)  It’s hard to believe it’s already been 6 months since the Red Sox won the World Series (again).  That’s 2 championships in 4 years.  It seems safe to say the Curse of the Bambino is over.  But while one curse is over another lingers in Chicago.  It’s been a long time since the Cubs last won the World Series.  1908 to be exact.  Yup, that’s right.  100 years.  However, while the mantra is “there’s always next year”, many believe this is THE year.  Well, maybe…

Nonetheless, March 31 is opening day at Wrigley and they’re starting it off with a bang honoring the great Ernie Banks with the unveiling of his statue.  Mr. Cub, as he’s referred to by adoring Chicagoans, is one of the game’s great ballplayers. I recently had the pleasure of meeting him and I must say, it was quite a thrill.  We talked at length about baseball, the Cubs, as well as my early days playing the hot corner in little league. Ernie asked if I played in college, of which I couldn’t help but laugh.  (I’m just glad my little league coach wasn’t there to laugh as well.) We also talked about parking!  Ernie was fascinated by what we are doing at ParkWhiz and said Wrigley Field could definitely use our service.    

With the baseball season about to begin, we’re making a shout-out to parking lot owners, garage operators and individuals who live around ballparks or stadiums across the country with available parking to sign up on ParkWhiz and sell your space.  There’s 81 home games and ParkWhiz is a great way to generate additional revenue through our online parking marketplace.    We take care of 99.5% of the work.  You just honor the reservation and watch the money pour in.  Give us a call at 888-4-PARKWHIZ and we’ll get you started.

For you baseball purists, enjoy opening day at a ballpark near you and good luck to your team!

Last week ParkWhiz was recognized as one of the top Chicago websites by Chicago magazine.

We want to offer our sincere thanks to Chicago magazine for the validation of our service and technology. The recognition has us beaming, as we continue to work hard to innovate and empower customers to make well-informed travel decisions. If you haven’t checked us out yet, please visit us at www.parkwhiz.com and and tell us what you think.

It’s been 2 months since opening night at the operahouse and we thought we’d take a minute to comment on some of the feedback we have received from our ParkWhiz customers.

GOOD

Lisa from Riverside wrote, ”Absolutely the best service around. The cost is reasonable, the attention spot on. You have to be an idiot to not use Park Whiz. Loved it.”

Moonalbrecht – ”ParkWhiz was great! It was wonderful to drive up to the door and just get out. Also, very quick to retrieve cars. Good job! I’ll do it again!”

Katrina – ”If you must drive this is the way to go”

Thanks for the great feedback. We’ll continue to strive to gain the trust and loyalty from all our users.

BAD

Lee commented, ”Given the high volume of customers, it took a while to get my car after the opera performance but overall, highly recommend!”

Hmmm…well, this is what we refer to as “Traffic Congestion Mayhem 101”. Anytime you have a high concentrated number of people in a small area, it’s gonna be tough to maneuver cars in and out of a location. This is an age old problem. The mad rush after a show or any large event is chaotic no matter where you park. If you park in a garage, you’ll still have to walk to that garage, and endure the same type of wait as traffic clears out. Yuck!

That said we are working to institute new features and ways to improve this process in the coming months for our buyers and sellers.

UGLY

noricat said, ”We waited forever to get our car. I can’t imagine what it will be like waiting in the cold after future performances. Maybe it was a busy night, but signage could have been better too – like where/who do I give my ticket to??”

Now this is a great example of how user feedback can help sellers improve their service in the future. The feedback is automatically sent to the sellers to let them know what went right AND what went wrong. They can use this feedback to learn and improve so the next time the buyer’s experience is flawless.

Overall, the reaction has been tremendous. With 50+ shows left, we expect a lot more feedback and improvements over the coming months.

Have you used the ParkWhiz service, but didn’t leave feedback? Let us know. Log in to your account and click My Feedback.

At the beginning of this month, Nokia announced that it would acquire Navteq for $8.1B. Wow. Just two months prior, Tom Tom purchased the rights to Tele Atlas. With the top two mapmakers now under a new umbrella, the industry is showing rapid change.

So what does this all mean? Well, we’re really not sure. But what is evident and has been, is the navigation business’ tremendous growth. With the LBS (location-based services) market ready to explode, companies are looking to leverage the right opportunity.

In its acquisition of Navteq, Nokia not only gains the Navteq maps, but also the traffic information from Traffic.com and travel information from Discover Cities. The opportunities created for Nokia are endless and the consolidation leaves much to the imagination of the type of integration that can occur when blending information, mobile services and GPS.

In the meantime, as the industry sorts out, we congratulate our friends and partners at Navteq for this momentous occasion!

We are proud to officially announce a partnership with Lyric Opera of Chicago. As a partner of Lyric, we will offer online pre-reserved valet parking to patrons for the upcoming opera season. The opera house seats 3,500+ and with over 70 performances, that’s a lot of parking! Our goal is to take the frustration out of parking and allow patrons to enjoy a night at the opera.

Please read our press release here and some of our news coverage here. You can also see available parking options and reserve your parking for the upcoming opera season at the Lyric website by clicking here.

On behalf of the ParkWhiz team, thank you for your continued support.

How would you like to have a week of your life back? According to the Texas Traffic Institute, drivers sit in traffic for almost a week’s worth of time to and from their jobs! LA has the worst congestion, followed by Atlanta and SF.

One of the big contributors to the traffic congestion is drivers “cruising” for parking. Studies show that drivers looking for parking generate about 30% of the traffic in central business districts.

Next time, plan ahead and know where to park before you leave using parkwhiz.com. If you’re not at home, no problem. Simply open your mobile browser to parkwhiz.com and get the same results. You can save time, money, and frustration, plus help the environment in the process!

Parking is about more than just price and location. There are a number of other factors to consider: is the lot/garage clean and well lit? are the attendants friendly? is theft common? do they take a long time to retrieve your car?

You can tell the world what you think about a parking spot on ParkWhiz.com, and help other drivers know what to expect.

If you have a problem with a garage, make your displeasure known to the thousands of people that visit ParkWhiz.com. Don’t just share negative feedback though—if a spot you parked at was really great, give ‘em the credit they deserve.

Remember, ParkWhiz is not a parking company—we don’t operate any parking facilities. ParkWhiz is an information company—we help you make an informed decision when you park your car. Ratings from other drivers is one more piece of info to help you find the perfect parking spot.

The 2007 Colliers’ 7th annual North America Parking Rate Survey indicates the cost to park your car continues to increase. The average monthly parking spot in the US is now $150.81, up 4.4% from last year according to Colliers’, while daily rates jumped up to $15.38, up 3.2%.

The pinch is being felt in places like Chicago, where over 200,000 people drive downtown to their job everyday. New York City receives the honor once again with the highest rates in the US, coming in at $630 on average to park your car in Midtown. At least NY residents can be thankful the situation isn’t as dire as our friends in London have it, where they pay a whopping $1198 a month for parking! Wow!

So the question is, are you getting the best parking deal in town? Enter your destination and find out!