San Francisco Considers Citywide Demand-Based Parking

"Surge pricing could be coming to every parking meter in San Francisco in 2018 under a plan being considered by the Municipal Transportation Agency," reports Michael Cabanatuan.

The city already uses dynamic pricing for 7,000 parking spaces around the city, after its pioneering SFPark pilot program to test the concept concluded in 2014. After the pilot concluded, the MTA continued demand-based pricing "in some of the city’s busiest neighborhoods — downtown, South of Market, the Mission, the Embarcadero, Fisherman’s Wharf, Mission Bay, the Fillmore and the Marina," according to Cabanatuan. If the MTA approves the proposal to extend demand-based dynamic pricing citywide, it would be the first time the concept has been in implemented in more residential neighborhoods.

Cabanatuan also describes the reasoning by the demand-based pricing concept, which will be familiar to anyone who has read Donald Shoup's The High Cost of Free Parking:

MTA officials say the approach is intended to increase the availability of coveted city parking spaces, particularly in areas where demand is high. People unwilling to pay the higher rates might seek parking farther away, remain for a shorter period of time, or leave their car at home.