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California
San Francisco to Test Demand-Based Parking Meter Program
Following the February 2007 introduction of demand-based meter prices on downtown parking by Redwood City, 26 miles south, San Francisco officials plan to launch a similar high-tech pilot program in several neighborhoods early next year, hoping eventually to increase the city's parking meter revenue from about $30 million to perhaps $150 million a year while making drivers cruise less in search for vacant spaces and thus reducing traffic and air pollution.
''We're looking at actually pricing a parking space like housing,'' said San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) Chief Financial Officer Sonali Bose, ''let the market dictate the price.''
Under the program the MTA board will discuss in greater detail next month, reports San Francisco Chronicle writer Rachel Gordon, the city may expand meter hours in high-demand areas but lift user time limits, bring meter rates closer to charges on nearby parking lots, and set progressive prices of perhaps $2 for the first hour, with each additional hour costing a dollar more than the previous one.
Officials aim for an 85 percent meter occupancy rate to ensure turnover, the writer notes, and they also want to make payments convenient, believing people will readily use a credit or debit card, a cell phone or other electronic gadget even if there's a surcharge.
In Redwood City, redevelopment manager Susan Moeller is pleased with the 85 percent meter occupancy and the electronic meter payment results, telling the writer that initial technological glitches were worked out and that officials promised downtown merchants to spend the extra revenue on district street and sidewalk enhancements.
''The program hasn't been without its challenges,'' she observed, ''but we've gotten to the point where we are managing our parking much better so there is less congestion and there are always spaces available.''
A ''parking management guru,'' University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Urban Planning Professor Donald Shoup expects more municipalities to embrace free-market parking rates.
''I think new technology makes it much easier to try pricing variation and the world is changing,'' he stressed. ''There's a much better understanding about energy dependency and global warming, and people are becoming more willing to do what they can about congestion.'' -- San Francisco Chronicle 10/12/2007
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