Opinion

How to improve San Francisco, one parking space at a time

Cars are parked on the 300 block of Townsend Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday Oct. 28, 2017. Cars are parked on the 300 block of Townsend Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday Oct. 28, 2017. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close How to improve San Francisco, one parking space at a time 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Laid end-to-end, San Francisco’s 275,000 curb parking spaces would stretch longer than California’s coastline. Combined into one piece of land, all this curb parking would cover Golden Gate Park. Yet only 10 percent of these curb spaces are metered.

In the unmetered areas San Francisco has created parking permit districts that reserve the curb spaces for residents, but competition for the curb can be fierce because the city issues up to four permits per household. “You spend half your life,” one resident told The Chronicle in 2001, “driving around looking for parking in this town, which is bad for your marriage.” Fights over scarce curb parking have even escalated to murder.

Nothing is more political than parking, and all drivers want to park free. But because 90 percent of San Francisco’s curb spaces are not metered, the total parking subsidy is huge. How much revenue could the city raise if drivers paid fair market prices for curb parking? Is it politically possible to charge drivers what parking is worth?

If a block has 20 curb spaces and each space can earn $250 a month, free curb parking gives drivers $60,000 a year and nondrivers nothing. If the city were charging for curb parking and spending an extra $60,000 a year for public services, should it instead spend $60,000 less for public services to finance hard-to-find free curb parking for 20 cars?

To counter the opposition to paying for curb parking, some cities have created parking benefit districts that dedicate the revenue for added public services on the metered streets. Everyone can see their meter money at work repairing sidewalks, planting street trees, or providing free Wi-Fi. Localizing the benefits creates local political support to charge market prices for curb parking.

Parking benefit districts work well in commercial areas, but will they also work in residential neighborhoods? Residential parking benefit districts differ from ordinary parking permit districts in three ways. First, the city sells no more permits than the number of curb spaces. Second, drivers pay market prices for the permits, so demand equals supply. Third, the permit revenue pays for neighborhood public services. As with a parking permit district, a majority of a block’s residents would have to sign a petition to join a parking benefit district.

In neighborhoods where residents greatly outnumber curb spaces, only a small minority can park on the street. The parking permit district in Chinatown-Nob Hill, for example, has 37,000 residents and only 3,630 curb spaces. Because the district has 10 residents per curb space, 9 out of 10 residents either do not own a car or park off-street.

Off-street parking in Chinatown-Nob Hill costs from $250 to $400 a month, so a permit that guarantees curb parking is probably worth at least $250 a month. If the market price of a permit is $250 a month, the 3,630 permits will yield almost $11 million a year. A few spaces on each block can be metered for visitors, and this will yield more revenue. Parking won’t be free, but drivers won’t have to fight for it.

The city could, for example, spend a share of the $11 million a year to provide free Wi-Fi throughout Chinatown-Nob Hill and spend the rest to provide a free Muni pass for every resident. The prospect of free Wi-Fi and free public transit for everyone might persuade residents to petition for a parking benefit district.

Parked cars will pay to improve city life, especially for residents who cannot afford or choose not to own a car. Cities have limited resources to help the poor, and parking benefit districts will help San Francisco’s poorest residents far more than cheap curb parking does. The discovery that romance novelist Danielle Steel had permits to park 26 cars on the streets around her Pacific Heights mansion shows why cheap curb parking is not an effective anti-poverty program.

Parking benefit districts will become better places to live. Even for residents who park on the street, parking benefit districts can eliminate the need to move their cars for street cleaning. The parking revenue can pay for staff and equipment to clean in the gutters and under the parked cars. No more street-cleaning tickets!

Cities should carefully manage their public real estate used for private parking. Free curb parking that now subsidizes cars, congestion and carbon can instead pay for better public services. Parking benefit districts will improve transportation, the city, and the environment, one parking space at a time.

Donald Shoup is a professor in the Department of Public Planning at UCLA.