According to a new report from the SF Standard, SFMTA issued over 100,000 tickets in March, which was the first time citations reached six figures since before the pandemic. In July, the city gave out over $8.5 million in citations, as some tickets can be in excess of $100.
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"Citations pretty much fell off a cliff during the pandemic, as people may be familiar with, and it's back. Citations are back," said Noah Baustin, a data reporter for SF Standard.
Baustin says that the most ticketed violations are people parked in street sweeping areas.
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Where are the most tickets being given out?
Baustin gave a breakdown of the top neighborhoods and specific hotspots where the most tickets are given out.
- Financial District
- Mission
- Tenderloin
In terms of the specific hotspots, the clear frontrunner is 501 Terry A. Francois Blvd., which is in between Oracle Park and the Chase Center, two of the city's largest event venues. The city raked in $114,629 in citations between January 1 and August 5, 2022, for this spot.
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The second highest hotspot located at 993 Potrero Ave., which is across the street from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, took in $29,219 in citations in the same time period.
The third highest hotspot is a parking garage in the Marina, located at 3252 Pierce St. That location had $24,718 worth of parking citations.
RELATED: SFMTA parking tickets costing SF Mission Bay residents hundreds
When are the most tickets being given out?
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Baustin says that between 12 p.m.-1 p.m. is clearly when the most citations are issued, and behind that is 9 a.m.-10 a.m.
"Kind of transition times of day whether it's lunchtime or people arriving at work, those are both top times," he said.
Why are the most tickets being given out?
A spokesperson from SFMTA told Baustin that the top three neighborhoods have a high density of parking regulations on the streets.
"You might have street sweeping, you might also have a meter, there might be a no parking zone on the block in some of these neighborhoods," Baustin said.
He explained that the SFMTA spokesperson said they deploy more parking enforcement officers to these dense neighborhoods, resulting in the higher number of violations.