SFMTA considering dramatic changes to parking

ByLauren Martinez KGO logo
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
SFMTA considering dramatic changes to parking
Parking in San Francisco is getting more and more competitive. On Tuesday, the SFTMA will receive a report on proposed changes that will hopefully make San Francisco's limited space, less congested.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Parking in San Francisco is getting more and more competitive.

On Tuesday, the SFTMA will receive a report on proposed changes that will hopefully make San Francisco's limited space, less congested.

Titled "Curb Management Strategy," the SFMTA lays out how they will manage and allocate the city's limited curb space. It explores how the transportation landscape in San Francisco has dramatically changed in the last 10 years.

RELATED: SFMTA dismisses parking ticket man received while recovering in hospital from stabbing

Ride-sharing vehicles, electric scooters and on-demand food delivery services are now competing for space on city curb-sides.

Some of the highlights include:

  • More parking for motorcycles.
  • Special parking for electric scooters.
  • Extending hours on all meters and ending Sunday free parking.
  • Increase and streamline 'geofencing for TNC's' (Transportation Network Companies like Uber and Lyft.) That would mean designating pickup/drop off locations like the ones already in place at SFO.
  • Creating a four-hour time limit on broken meters, which are 20% of the meters in the city on any given day.
  • To enforce these changes, the SFMTA is proposing using cameras on buses to ticket for double parking. They would use fixed cameras, similar to cameras at red lights, that would ticket those for illegal stopping or parking.

    "On the technical side, GPS technology that is currently being used in conventional vehicles is not precise enough to consistently identify whether someone is using a loading zone at the curb, double-parking, or perhaps just stuck in traffic in the travel lane next to a loading zone," said the SFMTA. "Sensor or camera technology would require widespread adoption and raise serious privacy concerns. Any system of sensors or cameras would require an extremely large capital investment for installation, maintenance, and power."

    San Francisco native Howard Schindler has lived in the city for over 70 years. He drives every day and takes his two dogs with him. He thinks charging drivers to park at meters on Sundays is in his words, awful.

    "Sundays are a day I can take my dogs to different parks in the city. I understand encouraging public transportation, but everyone is not the same here," Schindler said.

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