High-tech parking meters premiere in S.F.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will roll out the first large-scale test of SFpark in the Hayes Valley neighborhood just west of City Hall with the installation of 190 high-tech meters, part of a two-year experiment to find out how pricing affects drivers' parking choices in commercial corridors.

The goal of the $24.75 million pilot project, backed with nearly $20 million in federal funding, is to prevent cars from circling the block looking for parking and to reduce congestion and air pollution.

Initially, drivers only will notice new parking meters, which officials hope will be more convenient because they will accept coins, debit cards, credit cards and eventually the city's prepaid parking cards. When fully implemented, the trial will encompass 5,100 parking spaces in eight neighborhoods, or about 20 percent of the curbside spots with meters.

Starting early next year, parking officials will start adjusting the meter rates and time limits to gauge how that influences behavior. More than 8,000 wireless sensors will be embedded in the asphalt to monitor empty spaces and the amount of time each vehicle stays parked in one spot.

Rates will be adjusted based on demand.

If the project proves successful, San Francisco could be trumpeted as a model.

"I don't think it will be a national precedent, but a worldwide precedent," said Donald Shoup, an economist and professor of urban planning at UCLA and a guru of the parking-reform movement.

"This is about more effectively managing parking in San Francisco and achieving our goals of reducing congestion and pollution and making it more convenient to park," said Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which runs SFpark.

Shoup popularized the theory that an 85 percent occupancy rate of on-street spaces would be the most efficient use of public parking. He said the theory, already used in such places as Redwood City, will be put to its first big test with the data-driven San Francisco experiment, which will be the first jurisdiction to use the high-tech sensors.

He said exactly what price will get the city to that 85 percent target has yet to be determined. "It's like the Supreme Court's definition of pornography," he said. "I know it when I see it."

Currently, the city charges $2 to $3.50 an hour to park at a meter, depending on the neighborhood.

Under SFpark, the base price could range from 50 cents to $6. Rates could reach as high as $18 an hour for special events.

The prices will vary by time, location and day. To minimize confusion, the price will not fluctuate more than 50 cents an hour and won't be changed more than once a month. The Municipal Transportation Agency will analyze the usage and set the prices.

SFpark also will incorporate 15 city-owned parking garages, with some 12,500 spaces, tying the prices to parking availability on the street.

The public will be able to track real-time parking availability online and with smart-phone applications starting next year. Electronic signs will also direct drivers to open spots.

Last year, the city collected $36 million in revenue from its stock of more than 24,000 meters. Revenue from parking meter-related parking citations runs about $17 million a year. City officials anticipate SFpark will generate more revenue from meter collections, but less from parking fines. They cite two reasons: feeding the meter will be more convenient and time limits will be extended or lifted in some places.

That would make life easier for Beth Leong, who plugged coin after coin into an old-style meter on Hayes Street Monday afternoon.

"This is ridiculous," said the 27-year-old Web designer on her way to meet a prospective client for lunch. "Every time I park, I have to bring along a fistful of quarters and dimes. I'd love it if I could use a credit card."