The folks at HotSpot Parking in Fredericton are celebrating the fact their mobile parking service is spreading across Atlantic Canada. HotSpot has logged over 100,000 parking sessions since its December roll-out in Halifax and nearly 12,000 Haligonians have subscribed to its service.  

HotSpot Parking is now available in almost every major Atlantic Canadian city. Its services are free to municipalities, and drivers pay $2 a month. So far, it has provided over $18,000 in free parking hours, maintains a positive cash flow and employes ten people.

“We have a really good thing going,” said Phillip Curley, the CEO of the company during an interview. “Atlantic Canada has worked really well. We have over 40,000 users that travel between the cities and park.

“We’re not going to do a VC round,” he added. “I don’t want to do that. We’re just growing a business as typical.”

HotSpot got its start in 2013 when it launched its mobile app that lets drivers remotely feed parking meters. The company’s tech has evolved and now offers real-time parking maps and integrates its services with the public transit systems in Moncton and Fredericton.

“We’re providing a really important service which is information-first mobility,” said Curley.  “People don’t really know a lot about their options so if we can provide them with a consistent experience in Atlantic Canada or the rest of Canada then there is a lot of value for that.”

In May, HotSpot had its highest number of customer sign ups since launching in Halifax and Curley is expecting to see similar growth for this month.

HotSpot Closer to Regional Vision

HotSpot is focusing on growth in the Maritimes because the team feel they can fill a need as Atlantic Canada tries to reinvent itself as a global startup hub. Curley sees the benefits an integrated parking system can have for strengthening provincial connections.

“There’ s a lot of complexity in parking once you dive into it and as cities are evolving due to rural migration it’s only moving more to the forefront,” said Curley.

He continued: “In Moncton, I think they have somewhere around 1,000 or 1,500 parking spaces that are controlled by the municipalities but I think they have 6,000 controlled by private entities. Again, it’s that consistent experience. Whether or not you go to a private or a public lot, it’s one app.”

The business is making efforts to deploy its services outside of Atlantic Canada and into Ontario and Quebec. Curley said those efforts are going well and his team is setting up pilot projects. 

“I feel confident we’ll have something on that within the next three months,” said Curley.

The company isn’t considering the American market any time soon.

“I have no bias against the States, I’m just super Canadian, you know,” said Curley. “I just think of Canada as our home, and if it’s easier for us to help our neighbours then that’s where my head is at right now.”