Cities Try Online Fix For Parking Crunch

"Introduced Tuesday just as the holiday shopping season begins, the novel real-time site, parkingspacenow.smgov.net, will be updated every five seconds and display numbers of available parking spaces for public garages and surface beach lots. People thinking of venturing into Santa Monica's congested central area will be able to check their computers beforehand for information that could help steer them to the best location."

Other cities are looking at the example.

"The International Herald Tribune reported this week that Paris plans in December to launch a service allowing harried drivers to use their cellphones or global positioning system navigation devices to find out in real time whether parking spaces are available nearby. A French parking official said the service should improve traffic flow in a city where, at times, up to 25% of vehicles are in search of a parking space."