The encyclopedia · Trading & Investing · Operational decision · 2011–2013
San Francisco priced curb parking so one or two spaces always stayed open
SFpark set meter prices to hit a 60–80% occupancy target, cutting cruising for parking by about half without raising average prices.
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
the move
City drivers spent an enormous share of traffic circling for a curb space, because meters were priced the same everywhere regardless of demand, so desirable blocks were always full and empty blocks rarely empty.
In 2011 San Francisco launched SFpark: live sensors report how full each block is, and meter prices rise on crowded blocks and fall on empty ones. The goal is a steady 60–80% occupancy, which keeps parking both well used and available.
It worked. The average meter price fell about 4%, the measured elasticity of demand was about -0.4, and after two years 62% of blocks sat in the target range. Cruising fell by roughly half, so the same street space produced far less wasted driving.
why it works
- A flat meter price made desirable blocks chronically full and others empty
- Keeping one or two spaces open removes the need to circle, which itself pollutes
- Price data reveal true demand, so the city can steer occupancy without building more parking
- Average prices moved down, not up, so the reform was not a revenue grab
what transfers
A scarce shared resource gets mis-used when its price is fixed; expose occupancy and let the price adjust until a target availability is hit, and the resource allocates itself.
what came after
SFpark became the leading real-world test of occupancy-targeted parking pricing, on which later demand-responsive pricing models are built. Its results were published in the Journal of the American Planning Association and are studied as the case for pricing a scarce public good by availability rather than by flat fee.
references
- Pricing Parking by Demand: Assessing Price Adjustments in the SFpark Program
- Getting the Prices Right: An Evaluation of Pricing Parking by Demand in San Francisco
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