App to reserve parking spot now available

MANILA, Philippines — Another mobile app designed to alleviate Metro Manila’s perpetual transportation crisis launched on Monday, promising to revolutionize a very specific aspect of the driving experience — parking.

The central feature of the app, which is called Dibz, allows users to reserve parking spots in advance from its array of partner commercial and private establishments and even pay for the parking fee with a card or online credit.

It was pitched in a press conference as a solution to worsening congestion around the busiest sections of the metropolis, where it could sometimes take half an hour — or even longer — just to find a parking spot.

Dibztech Inc., the app’s creator, introduced it to the public alongside an endorsement from the commuter advocacy group Lawyers for Commuter Safety and Protection.

“You get on the app, search where you’re going, and it will show you the parking spaces that are nearby,”Dibz founder Donald Saurombe told the Inquirer. “Then you can reserve it.”

Saurombe said there were currently over 5,000 total parking spaces available for reservation on the app, with most of these concentrated in commercial centers like the cities of Makati, Mandaluyong and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.