Market-rate parking comes to SF. What can DC learn?

Parking

Market-rate parking comes to SF. What can DC learn?

by Michael Perkins • April 11, 2011 1:49 pm

San Francisco is ready to roll out demand-responsive parking prices, a move that the city hopes will reduce congestion and allow transit vehicles to move faster.

Photo by niallkennedy on Flickr.

San Francisco will adjust parking meter and garage parking prices based on measured demand. The District has a similar policy for adjusting prices in the Columbia Heights and ballpark "performance parking" districts. Unlike the District, San Francisco clearly described the method they will use to make the adjustments.

On-street metered blocks will have prices vary by time of day, in three or four daily meter periods. Though some meters open earlier and others run later into the night, all meters will change between the morning, afternoon, early evening, and late evening periods at the same time for customer convenience.

Some blocks serve the mid-day office crowd, while other blocks serve daytime tourists, other serve shoppers parking later in the day, and others late night entertainment.

The citywide meter periods will be

opening (either 7am or 9am) to noon
noon to 3pm
3pm to 7pm
7pm to closing

Most San Francisco parking meters operate from 9am to 6pm, some from 7am to 6pm or 7pm, and some from 7am to 11pm. Rates will remain the same within each individual meter period. If the time you pay for is within two different meter periods, the meter will prorate your charge accordingly.

For each block side and meter period, officials will adjust on-street meters according to the number of cars parked on that block during that period. If more than 85% of the spaces are taken, the price will increase. If fewer than 65% of the spaces are taken, the price will fall.

The city is simplifying the rate system for municipal garages and will eliminate many special rates such as flat-fee evening parking. Instead, all garages will have an adjustable hourly rate for the different periods. Monthly and daily rates will be based on multiplying factors by the hourly rates. For example, a monthly parking permit might be made available for the cost of 10 full days of parking.

The city will adjust prices no more than once a month and will publish new rates a week in advance on the SFMTA and SFpark websites.

San Francisco is going to be the big test of whether a city can handle adjustable rates. The city already has the parking sensors, computer tracking equipment, dedicated staff, and political will.

Communicating the process for adjusting prices in advance is an important step DC neglected when rolling out its similar demand-based performance parking program. Admittedly, DDOT did not have Federal funding to purchase occupancy sensors, they did not appear to dedicate full-time staff, and the approval for parking rate adjustments appears to have been influenced by neighborhood approval, rather than market demand.

The District should borrow from San Francisco and communicate a clear policy for how often parking meter occupancy will be observed, and what occupancy levels will result in changes to meter prices.

18 comments

Tags: California, performance parking, San Francisco

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Performance parking but no spaces at Barracks Row (Nov 24, 2009)
Arlington may measure parking occupancy with cameras (Mar 3, 2011)
Wells pushes DDOT to perform better on parking (Mar 1, 2011)
Columbia Heights parking report needs more detail (Dec 7, 2009)

Michael Perkins blogs about Metro operations and fares, performance parking, and any other government and economics information he finds on the Web. He lives with his wife and two children in Arlington, Virginia.

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Very interesting, but there are a couple of things I don't understand:

1) How do you know how much it will cost to park while you're driving around looking for a space? Do you have to find a space, park, get out, look at the meter and *then* figure out that it's $1 for 3 minutes ... making it necessary to get back in the car, start it back up, and drive around some more until you find something cheaper? That would seem to be less useful to the driver. I would want to know how much it's going to cost before I pull my car into the spot.

2) If the garage rates are changing all the time too, how are you supposed to budget for parking if you have to pay for that as one of your regular expenses?

It all just seems really, really *complicated* ...

by mccxxiii on Apr 11, 2011 2:31 pm • link • report

Well, in DC it would have to be called "Pennsylvania-rate parking," or maybe "K-rate parking," since we don't have a Market Street here. :-)

by Mike on Apr 11, 2011 2:34 pm • link • report

How is the parking pricing information given to the consumer?

by charlie on Apr 11, 2011 2:34 pm • link • report

My biggest question echoes charlie's - how does the consumer know what price will be charged?

I'm assuming they will adjust prices based on demand on a block by block basis - meaning that having good information about what prices are charged at what times and in what places is critical to the whole exercise working well. I can see potential for slick smartphone apps and integration with GPS systems, but those raise real distracted driving fears and that technology is also limited in terms of audience.

The only other thing I can think of is some sort of variable message signage. You'd need at least one on every block face you're talking about, however.

by Alex B. on Apr 11, 2011 2:43 pm • link • report

My guess is you won't know the price until you pull into the space and check the meter. It seems to me that in time people will have an intuitive sense of how much the parking will cost, by seeing how full the block they're parking on is. So people will know - "hey, it's pretty empty, parking will be around $3/hr" or "wow, this block is full, it'll be more like $5."

And it seems to me a big effect of this change is that it will push people to park in garages rather than feeding the meter. And that's probably what the MTA wants them to do.

by MLD on Apr 11, 2011 2:50 pm • link • report

I believe SF uses the internet and smart phone apps to get information to the consumer.

But is isn't that complicated that you need an application to figure it out. Most people are fully aware of where parking is tight and when that is.

Farragut will be more expensive mid-day than the evening.

Dupont or Adams Morgan will be more expensive in the evening than mid-day.

The Mall will be more expensive mid-day and weekends than at night.

So wherever parking is traditionally at the highest demand, the price will raise to curtail supply. For people driving to these areas, even though they are all accessible by metro, are most likely able to pay the premium for the parking.

The best advice is always prepare for the most expensive parking rates or go to that new restaurant in that neighborhood you don't go to often where you know the parking is cheaper.

by cmc on Apr 11, 2011 2:51 pm • link • report

@AlexB; markets require information to work.

Multi-space meters help a little there -- as opposed to the smart-meters in the attached graphic.

However, I suspect demand, without information, isn't going to be very elastic.

@Mperkins -- did you see the drop in the 5A ridership?

by charlie on Apr 11, 2011 2:52 pm • link • report

@MLD; yes, some expectations will develop, but the key point of the SF plan is they CHANGE prices.

by charlie on Apr 11, 2011 2:55 pm • link • report

@MLD

Except it won't work quite like that - the prices will only be adjusted once a month. You won't be able to tell what the price is by judging how full the street is - based on their pricing adjustment schemes, all of the streets should look about the same at 85% occupancy, regardless of price.

I do think that over time the plan is likely to reach some sort of equilibrium, and drivers will know that this block is expensive while that block isn't. That said, such an equilibrium doesn't solve for casual parkers, nor does it solve for out of town parkers.

Some of this is overblown, as I suspect a lot of people will just pay what the rate is - they're more concerned with finding a spot than what the exact rate will be - but that's not exactly an elegant solution to the communication issue.

by Alex B. on Apr 11, 2011 2:55 pm • link • report

Since the prices change at most monthly, there is time for you to go online and look at a map if you're really curious. In general it's going to be more expensive in busier areas and cheaper a couple of blocks away.

Eventually, the prices should seek a general equilibrium and should start changing more slowly. If the prices can change a quarter per hour per month, after a year they can reach most any price in the allowed range.

I'll ask the SF park manager how they're planning on communicating rate information.

by Michael Perkins on Apr 11, 2011 2:55 pm • link • report

@MPerkins; does anyone have a map of all the street parking spaces in DC?

by charlie on Apr 11, 2011 3:02 pm • link • report

If it were variable by day (though it sounds like they change it only monthly), one way to communicate the current price of the meter would be with some kind of blinking colored light(s) on the meter. Three lights blinking for high price, two lights for medium price, etc.

If you're passing by slowly, you could easily see that information without having to actually park at the meter and get out of your car.

by Justin on Apr 11, 2011 3:06 pm • link • report

Ahh, the post made it sound to me like the meters were updated more frequently based on occupancy and only the garages had fixed prices that were changed once a month.

Seems to me that you could end up with a see-saw effect, certain blocks are cheaper one month, so people start to use them more, then they raise the price?

by MLD on Apr 11, 2011 3:09 pm • link • report

@MLD: whenever you have a control system with delayed feedback, you could run into this kind of oscillatory behavior. This one has a pretty significant deadband, from 65% to 85% occupancy, so I wouldn't expect to see that.

by Michael Perkins on Apr 11, 2011 3:37 pm • link • report

@MLD

I also think, like gas prices, the market rates taking longer to come down.

by Adam L on Apr 11, 2011 4:23 pm • link • report

I don't know of any locations where there's meters that the private rate isn't at least $2/hr. If anything I wish DC could move above that rate at certain places at certain times.

And if there are places that are dead at certain times I doubt cheap parking would entice anyone to go there.

The other day I had to pay $8 for an hour at a private garage downtown and on-street parking would have been more convenient.

by Tom Coumaris on Apr 11, 2011 4:28 pm • link • report

I would settle for meters that actually work. In the last four times I've used meters, on three of those occasions, the meters did not work. What's with that? High parking rates act as a disincentive for me to stay away from Washington unless necessary, causing me to spend my entertainment dollars in the 'burbs.

by Frustrated on Apr 12, 2011 10:15 pm • link • report

If the meter doesn't work, the parking is free for the length of time the meter would allow. So isn't a broken meter actually a great find, for the driver?

by David Alpert on Apr 12, 2011 10:21 pm • link • report