An SMS? Seriously?
Picture this: a southern European city, sun, sea, and a parking meter that only accepts an SMS from a local carrier. You're a tourist. You have a German SIM. You're standing next to your car with five euros in coins thinking: 'Is this the 2020s or not?'
Locals had figured out the workaround — they were used to it. But for everyone else, parking was a quest involving cash, queues, and wasted time. The system worked. Just not for everyone.
«I realised the problem wasn't the system — it was functional. The problem was that it simply didn't exist beyond its own perimeter.»
Co-founder of the project
The middleman nobody notices
We didn't break the existing infrastructure — we stepped between it and the user. The app accepts payment by any card, from any bank, from any country — and sends the required SMS to the city's system itself.
To the user it looks like a regular mobile payment. To the city's system — as if nothing changed at all. Tourists park in 20 seconds. Locals finally empty their pockets of coins.
We built a web app where drivers can book and pay for parking in advance, and administrators can manage occupancy and access detailed analytics.
Parking without a passport or cash
«We didn't expect it to be this popular with locals. We thought we were building for tourists — turned out we were building for everyone.»
Co-founder of the project