CurbNinja: Your smartphone parking warrior

By Ian Kelso, Contributing Editor, EatSleepRIDE

There are two things I do love: technology that actually solves real-world problems, and free motorcycle parking! So when I bumped into Tim Hines, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Ninja of CurbNinja, I was an instant admirer.

I happen to live in Toronto where motorcycle parking is free. And that free parking is actually the real reason I initially started to ride just four years ago. When I suddenly realized I could save $15 or $20 a day just by riding to work, the case for buying a motorcycle became too compelling. As I have written before, motorcycles are great for cities: they take up less space, they can ease up gridlock and they tend to be more environmentally friendly.

But when I travel to other cities, I am always mystified about where it is okay and not okay to park my bike. In fact I have spent hours scouring discussion forums for advice about bike parking for cities that I was planning to visit. And even when I find information, it is usually old and so I am never completely sure. So I worry constantly about getting ticketed or towed.

CurbNinja is a free crowd-sourced parking app that is not just about free parking, it is a way for motorcycle riders to share information about good places to park a bike in any city. In the app you can zoom the map to any city and find green markers for metered / paid parking and blue markers for free parking. It also conveniently shows pins for bike friendly businesses so you can plan a little retail exploration close to that excellent spot you found 🙂

Over the past few months the CurbNinja team has been busy researching and adding content to the app, and they have currently covered about ten cities in the US and Canada. But the service is really designed for riders to help each other out, to share their own tips, tricks and wisdom about parking in their own city.

As a rider himself, I asked Tim a little bit about why they decided to build CurbNinja and what their plans are for the future.

ESR: TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT CURBNINJA AND WHAT DOES FOR MOTORCYCLE RIDERS.

Tim Hines: CurbNinja helps bikers overcome the fear of riding in the city by showing them the safe and reliable places to park. Bikers no longer have to look over their shoulder when they park in our spots. We believe in building a sense of community with our app.

ESR: WHAT INITIALLY INSPIRED YOU TO CREATE CURBNINJA?

Tim Hines: Both Fred (Co-Founder & COO) had a hell of a time finding parking in Chicago for our bikes. So we started mapping all of the hidden moto-friendly spots we found in a Google Map. Once we had a ton of spots, we thought it a good idea to create and app for other bikers to do just we were doing; finding and sharing reliable parking in the city and CurbNinja was born.

ESR: CROWD-SOURCED APPS DEPEND ON HAVING A CROWD TO GENERATE THE CONTENT IN ORDER TO ATTRACT USERS. HOW HAVE YOU GONE ABOUT ATTRACTING RIDERS TO CURBNINJA BEFORE YOU HAD A LOT OF SPACES TAGGED IN THE APP?

Tim Hines: We actually kick-started the app by building our inventory before launching. We work with city transportation officials to get whatever data we can to populate our maps in cities. Once we format and build a robust inventory, our users then sign up and start sharing their own spots.

ESR: ARE YOU FINDING A LOT OF DIFFERENCES IN PARKING REGULATIONS FROM CITY TO CITY ACROSS THE US AND CANADA? WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE TO PARK A BIKE IN NORTH AMERICA SO FAR?

Tim Hines: Yes. Each city handles parking differently. Some have metered motorcycle parking, some have free and some have none! Parking rates vary and so do fines. We pride ourselves in standardizing parking information across the 10 cities where we're live making it easy and uniform for our users in any city where they open the app. The best place to park so far? Well, San Francisco has the most motorcycle parking with over 2500 spaces both free and metered. Vancouver also has a ton of space all over the city near population centers and downtown.

ESR: WHAT IS NEXT FOR CURBNINJA?

Tim Hines: We're releasing our Android app this spring and launching in new cities all year. We get inquires from riders all over North America asking us to get spots in their city, so we must go where they want us to go!

ESR: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN RIDING AND WHAT IS YOUR RIDE?

Tim Hines: I have been riding eight years and my current bike is 2010 Triumph Thruxton.

CurbNinja is currently available for iPhone with an Android version due out this spring. Find out more at their website: www.curbninja.com _

Download the CurbNinja iOS App.