Boston bans Baltimore parking app Haystack

Weeks after launching in Boston, Baltimore-based Haystack has found its app persona non grata there.
The Boston City Council on Wednesday voted to bar companies from leasing publicly owned parking spaces, the Boston Business Journal reports. Haystack, which launched in Baltimore in June, allows users to buy and sell time in on-street parking spaces.
Eric Meyer, Haystack’s CEO, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. However, when the app launched, he contended in an interview with Technical.ly Baltimore that his app was not actually selling parking spaces.
“Haystack does not sell any parking at all,” Meyer said at the time. “Haystack simply facilitates an exchange of information between neighbors.”
Boston isn’t the first city to come down on apps like Meyer’s. In June, San Francisco banned MonkeyParking from operating there, Entrepreneur magazine reported at the time.
Peter Little, executive director of the Parking Authority of Baltimore City, did not respond to requests for comment on the app’s status in Baltimore.