Transit advocates in San Francisco have long pointed to a simple, if controversial strategy to drum up funding for Muni: Sunday parking meters.
Now, an advisory committee to the city’s transportation agency has revived the possibility again. Charging for parking on Sundays is one of nine recommendations put forward by the citizens’ advisory council, an appointed group of residents who help shape policy for San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and who are now trying to build an economic lifeboat.
Faced with a galling $307 million budget deficit that’s expected to grow, the council has proposed various tools to buttress San Francisco’s transit system as voters weigh a pair of tax bailouts in November. These include increases to cable car fares, which are currently $9 a ride, and possibly borrowing from the SFMTA reserve fund. But Sunday parking fees would represent the most dramatic shift, and likely draw the loudest resistance.
Citizen advisory council members will present their list to the SFMTA Board of Directors on Tuesday afternoon.
“Do I think Sunday meters are going to happen? No,” said Aaron Leifer, chair of the council “But it needs to be part of the conversation.”
A spokesperson for SFMTA said the agency is not considering the recommendation “at this time.”
Residents who view the Sunday meter concept as dead in the water may have memory-holed the year-long trial that SFMTA conducted in 2013. At that time, city officials hoped to move cars more efficiently, free up curb space, and possibly nudge people onto transit. They also anticipated at least $2 million a year in revenue.
Although lawmakers repealed the policy a year later, with the late Mayor Ed Lee assuring his constituents would no longer be “nickeled and dimed” on Sundays, different administrations have tried to resuscitate it. Former Mayor London Breed rolled out a proposal for Sunday and evening parking fees right before the pandemic hit in 2020, saying she wanted to ease downtown traffic and increase turnover. Leaders in the business community supported her.
Since then, the idea has lost steam. Two former city supervisors negotiated with SFMTA to kill a pilot that would have instituted Sunday meters in 2023. Members of the Muni Funding Working Group floated the concept again last year but it failed to gain traction. Whenever the Sunday meters have come up during SFMTA budget presentations, officials cite community opposition and move on.
To bring it back, advocates would have to overcome resistance from people who drive to Sunday church services or popular shopping corridors. Merchants sometimes oppose new parking fees, for fear of inhibiting customers. Representatives of Mayor Daniel Lurie did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Still, free parking on Sunday does not have to be a divine right in San Francisco. Oakland did away with it last year, and officials expect the new fees to generate at least $1.3 million annually. For a city facing a budget crisis, that money represented a lifeline. Muni could definitely use one, too.