In 100 feet, park left!
Weeks before a parking experiment ‘SFpark,’ the city has counted all publicly available parking spaces in San Francisco. Though the number is above 440,000, many drivers still complain that it is hard to park. But surveys show that drivers don’t know where parking is available–especially garages, too often overlooked–so they spend up to a third more driving time just to find parking.
A unique parking experiment, ‘SFpark,’ will take place in a few selected pilot areas of San Francisco starting this summer. It was made possible by the technology of wireless parking sensors developed by the privately hold company Streetline. Installation of a hand-sized device that records the availability of a single parking space is simple. Once a wireless sensor is glued in place on the street, it starts sending one key bit of information: is the space taken or not?
First measurements showed that drivers pay only half of measured parking time, whereas only 5% of violators are fined. Though new sensors could bring stricter parking enforcement, ‘SFpark’ will eventually help drivers to find open parking spots. If today’s GPS device directs you, for example, to a selected restaurant, the new parking sensor technology will enable the same device to tell you where the closest open parking spot is.
But before embedding new features in your navigation device, the information will be available only in a web application and on smart mobile phones. But seeking the safest and least distracting platform for drivers, Streetline developed another solution: a simple parking sign that will show the direction of free parking.
Tod Dykstra, Streetline’s CEO, explains that this sign has an arrow that shows where the free spaces are: “It will say, if you are on this street and looking for a place to park, this is where you should go”. The first parking signs, each costing around $1,000 will be installed this year. To enable the full functionality of ‘SFpark,’ new paying options will be added: parking meters will accept credit cards, SFMTA parking cards and coins. The city believes that easier and more convenient payment will reduce the number of tickets.
Parking 2.0
SFpark will bring big change both in parking availability and pricing policy. Essentially it will set a baseline for demand-responsive pricing. To reach the typical 20% availability of open spaces, prices will be set as high as necessary: an hour of parking will cost anywhere between 25 cents and six dollars. If a driver finds the price too high, he or she can either park elsewhere or postpone the time of travel to a time when demand and price are lower. This will also let the city fix disproportional garage and on-street parking prices. If the demand for on-street parking is higher, garages should eventually be a cheaper alternative. The city, which is cutting public transport services 10%, says that the new parking experiment is not about raising parking revenues but is about making parking easier to find.
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