New service brings valet parking wherever you want to park
Oct 9, 2014, 5:58 AM | Updated: 5:59 am
A new service called Zirx has just launched in Seattle, bringing valet parking to wherever you are. While limited initially to South Lake Union, the founders hope to expand citywide. (Zirx image)
(Zirx image)
There’s nothing worse than trying to find a parking space when you’re late for a critical meeting or appointment. Now, you don’t have to, thanks to a new app-based valet parking service.
San Francisco-based Zirx has quietly been operating in South Lake Union for the past three weeks.
With Zirx, you simply order the service via an iPhone or Android app and a valet – dubbed an “agent” by the company – meets you at your destination. For $15 a day, they’ll take your car to a nearby secure garage, and bring it back when you want it.
The idea is the brainchild of tech entrepreneur Shmulik Fishman and his partners, who wanted to come up with a technological solution to a common headache.
“It was always an adventure to find a parking spot. We really wanted to make parking a one tap solution instead of a ten minute circle around experience,” he says.
The company was founded in San Francisco and has been operating for the past three months there before its soft launch in Seattle late last month.
The company emphasizes security along with convenience. Fishman says it has $2 million in insurance and only uses secure garages with constant surveillance. All valets undergo stringent background checks.
“We believe security is core to the service,” he says. “We want to make sure that we’re trusting your vehicle with the right people.”
For now, the company is limiting service to weekdays in the area around Amazon.com. from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. But Fishman says it hopes to expand citywide.
With the price of parking in lots reaching $15 or more for the day downtown, and the city increasing hard-to-find street parking to $2 an hour, Zirx has tremendous appeal for drivers in our increasingly congested city.
