In San Francisco, 45 cents soon could save $55.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency plans to launch a new service that sends drivers text alerts if their parking meters are about to expire. People also will be allowed to plug the meters remotely using their cell phones. Existing time restrictions won't change.

A 45-cent "convenience" fee will be charged for each pay-by-phone transaction. The service is voluntary.

The program first will roll out in the Castro district, covering the curbside meters located on Castro Street between 19th and Market streets, and on 18th Street between Diamond and Hartford streets. It also will be available for the metered spaces in the two city-owned parking lots off of 18th Street and off of Castro Street.

The fine for parking at an expired meter in the Castro is $55 -the cost is $65 in the downtown core - and is among the costliest in the nation.

If successful, the pay-by-phone options will be expanded to other neighborhoods as part of the city's SFpark experiment that uses technology to make parking at meters more convenient and demand-based pricing to reduce traffic congestion.

- Rachel Gordon

Hope for housing: Mayor Ed Leeand House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, were joined by a host of regional and federal officials Monday to celebrate the awarding of a nearly $5 million federal grant to plan for Bay Area projects that create affordable housing and jobs along transit corridors.

The idea is to cluster development where people live and work around BART, Muni, Caltrain and other public transportation options to help reduce air pollution and the amount of time people waste driving on congested freeways.

A key is to make the housing affordable for low-income and middle-class workers who otherwise will continue to commute to the Bay Area suburbs and beyond where home prices are cheaper. Lee said that can be done through partnerships with nonprofit housing developers.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded a "sustainable communities grant" to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments to help craft a long-term development plan for the region.

- Rachel Gordon

A zippy load: Car-free city dwellers will soon have a new alternative to begging friends to borrow their covered pickup trucks to move across town on a rainy day or cramming all that fun-to-assemble furniture from their Ikea shopping sprees into mom's minivan.

Zipcar, the for-profit car-sharing outfit, will announce this morning that it plans to add cargo vans to its fleet of vehicles in San Francisco and Oakland beginning today, in a test to see if the concept will be as popular in crowded U.S. cities as it has been in London.

Six Ford E-150 cargo vans - known, ahem, as Zipvans - are available for reservation by Zipcar members, with hourly rates of $14.75 and daily rates of $99, including gas, insurance, parking, roadside assistance and the first 180 miles.

John Williams, a Zipcar spokesman, said San Francisco was selected because it's one of the international company's top American markets - and because the weather here is good for van-driving, even in the winter.

A survey showed a high interest in a van program, Williams said.

"Based on the success we've seen in London and the enthusiasm from our members expressed through our Zipcar member survey, we're thrilled to launch this pilot in San Francisco," said Scott Griffith, Zipcar chief executive officer.

By early January, a total of 15 vans will be located in San Francisco and Oakland.

- Michael Cabanatuan