Parking

Parking rates begin to stabilize as the SFpark program approaches two-year milestone

Posted by Eric ⋅ 27 March 2013 ⋅ 9 Comments

It has been nearly two years since San Francisco first launched the SFpark program to study how a parking crunch could be alleviated without increasing the supply of parking spaces. In that time, SFpark has attracted the attention of transportation professionals and geeks in the Bay Area and beyond, who are following along with interest … Continue reading →

SFMTA announces first parking rate adjustments under SFpark

Posted by Eric ⋅ 12 July 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has, for the first time since the SFpark pilot program was launched in several city neighborhoods this April, announced tweaks to parking meter rates. Those tweaks were fashioned in response to the parking occupancy data being collected, with the ongoing goal of finding the right price that maintains one … Continue reading →

Extended hours redux?

Posted by Eric ⋅ 24 April 2011 ⋅ 5 Comments

I am a big fan of data generally, and especially data that is made available for public consumption. Even though politicians can (and do) produce reasons to ignore data, it is still valuable to collect it. Data-driven, fact-based decision-making is always preferable to hiding behind a politically expedient anecdote of choice. That’s one reason I … Continue reading →

Could parking policy benefit from more regional oversight?

Posted by Eric ⋅ 20 April 2011 ⋅ 5 Comments

This week, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officially launches SFpark, a program that implements the type of demand-based pricing scheme advocated by Donald Shoup. Through SFpark, both on-street and off-street supply in designated pilot areas, which include many of San Francisco’s busiest neighborhoods, will be priced dynamically to match demand. SFpark’s pricing strategies are designed … Continue reading →

Let them have parking lots

Posted by Eric ⋅ 15 February 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

This week, the Oakland Planning Commission will consider a peculiar concoction brewed up by Planning Department staff called temporary conditional use permits (TCUPs). As explained by the staff report (41 MB PDF), the purpose of the proposed TCUP program is to help property owners maintain the economic viability of their vacant parcels, by allowing them … Continue reading →

New parking controls in the works for South of Market and Mission Bay

Posted by Eric ⋅ 9 February 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

As various neighborhoods in San Francisco have been rezoned in recent years to encourage density while maintaining livability, plans like Market/Octavia and Eastern Neighborhoods have called for minimum off-street parking requirements to be eliminated and instead replaced with parking maximums. This week the San Francisco Planning Commission will consider an ordinance that seeks to do … Continue reading →

“It would be a circus”

Posted by Eric ⋅ 3 May 2010 ⋅ 1 Comment

In light of the need to accommodate more housing in the Bay Area’s inner ring cities, this blog does not condone the cries of neighbors who protest height and density, simply to safeguard their parking spots or preserve their personal views. But at the same time, it cannot condone the rubber stamping of every project … Continue reading →

555 Fulton: When Parking By-Right Just Isn’t Enough

Posted by Eric ⋅ 12 March 2010 ⋅ 14 Comments

The San Francisco Planning Department has prepared an environmental document (mitigated negative declaration) for 555 Fulton (link to off-site 2.3 MB PDF). 555 Fulton is a five-story mixed-use residential and commercial project to be constructed on Fulton between Octavia and Laguna, in Hayes Valley. In terms of zones, the project site is in the Hayes-Gough … Continue reading →

Chipping Away at the Garage Problem

Posted by Eric ⋅ 19 February 2010 ⋅ 8 Comments

Take a stroll around North Beach or Chinatown in San Francisco, and you’ll see many of the characteristics you would expect to see in two of the densest urban districts in America’s second densest city — well-traveled sidewalks, mixed-use structures with ground-floor retail, buildings built to the sidewalk and property lines, a streetscape activated by … Continue reading →

PARK(ing) Day 2009

Posted by Eric ⋅ 25 September 2009 ⋅ 3 Comments

Last week on PARK(ing) Day, I carved out some time to run around to a few different neighborhoods in San Francisco, enjoying parking spots that were transformed temporarily into miniature parks and pockets of usable public space. While I had planned to get a post up with some pictures much sooner than this, I didn’t … Continue reading →