San Francisco finds performance parking less responsive than expected

[phantom power]

Perfomance parking has not has as big an impact as was expected in San Francisco. Even with high rates, popular blocks still fill up, and other blocks remain under-filled even at low prices.

...

Each time San Francisco has adjusted the rates, the spread between the least expensive and the most expensive blocks has increased. After this latest adjustment, parking rates will vary from a low of $0.75 up to $4.25/hr. To date, the most crowded blocks have typically continued to be crowded even after adjusting the prices upward, while under-occupied blocks have not filled up even after dropping the price.

...

This performance parking experiment is demonstrating that on high-demand blocks, drivers are very insensitive to price increases. The experiment is also showing that parking demand is highly localized, with price differences of as much as 100% continuing even through two adjustment cycles.

On the other hand, there's still more to learn.

Even if blocks are missing their target occupancy, performance parking could still be having a positive effect. Are the prices leading to a higher turnover in available spaces? And if so, are the available spaces leading to a reduction in drivers hunting for parking, as the theory suggests?

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/13019/san-francisco-finds-performance-parking-less-responsive-than-expected/

[MADem]

1. Rich people don't care how much they have to pay, apparently. nt

[phantom power]

2. I think also, non-rich people will pay a few extra bucks for a couple hours of convenient parking.

At least, it seems that enough people will, to keep those slots filled.

[Gormy Cuss]

3. An unanswered question in the article is how do consumers know that there are better rates nearby?

Several commenters bring this up. One suggested that there are apps to alert people on the rates in the area but if the city is really trying to convince people to park on lower demand blocks relying on apps alone is dumb. I would hope that there are signs on high demand blocks that alert parkers to cheaper parking nearby.

Also, Civic Center is the neighborhood used as one example. Without knowing where the less desirable blocks are I can guess that many are where the street people congregate in large numbers as well as the areas closer to the Tenderloin side where there are lots of high and drunk people on the street. IOW, the 'convenience' of not parking on those blocks is cloaked in terms of perceived safety for themselves and their vehicles.

It may be that performance parking is not going to achieve its congestion-related goals but it does help generate more revenue for the city so it does have some benefit.