Markets in Everything: Wales Edition

Katherine Mangu-Ward | February 23, 2007

Eighteen-year-old Wales resident Tom Page has created a market in parking at youcanpark.com. People with unused parking spaces and driveways can post rates and availability online for desperate commuters in their area to use during the day. The BBC reports:

Residents advertise their space on the site for free, but pay a commission. Users then search for a parking place in their chosen area, apply and, once approved, can rent it.

Mr Page said: "We fully manage it like a letting [rental] company does. We collect payment and pay the person who owns the space."

One customer touts parking spaces as a great way to build equity--a practice already common in France:

"In France, the car space business is very big, especially for young people....If you don't have a lots of money and you can't buy a house, you buy a parking space in a central location. The increase in equity you can make on a car space is much higher."

 Via Fark