“akippa”, an Osaka-based company that provides a service for drivers to find and use vacant parking spots via its website, announced Wednesday that it has started the same service on Okinawa.

Currently, the company has secured temporary parking space for 80 cars at 21 locations in central and southern Okinawa Main Island. The company aims increase the number of parking spots to 2,500 at 1,000 locations in its first year.

The company cooperates with Chubu Kyosan, Tedako, and Ryushin Housing to secure vacant temporary parking spots. Drivers can make reservations and accounts via their website to use the parking spots in increments of 15 minutes. The cost of the parking spots is ¥50 per 15 min. in Naha City, or ¥600 – ¥700 per day. They also air advertisements for the service on TV.

The company rents parking spots owned by private persons or companies for the time when they are vacant. 40 to 50% of the fees paid by motorists are returned to the owners of the spots.

According to Chubu Kyosan, there are many cases of people parking on the streets or on parking spots owned by others in the area, and no pay parking lots available. They say they receive more than 50 complaints a year on the matter.

Genki Kanetani, the CEO of akippa, says, “I would like to contribute to Okinawa by solving the parking problem by connecting vacant parking and the demand.”

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