It’s been a full year now that parking meters have been in effect on Sundays between 12noon and 6pm. When the SFMTA put the new policy in place, they claimed it was “to make sure that motorists can easily find a place to park in commercial areas, which is currently very hard on Sundays.”
At the time, their FAQ about the new policy didn’t say anything about increased revenues for the SFMTA, but we all knew that was really the reason.
And yesterday, Mayor Ed Lee confirmed that, but at the same time said he wants to eliminate the year old program.
“I’ve always felt uncomfortable with it, but Muni was suffering and we needed the money,” Lee said.
The SFMTA estimated that charging for meters on Sunday would bring in a little under $2 million which would help fund a struggling MUNI system. But how much did they really pull in during the first year?
Closer to $6 million according to Matier & Ross.
That’s because about half of the revenue on Sundays is coming from tickets when people forget to pay their meters or let them expire. The ticket for an expired meter can run as high as $72.
Now Lee says they’ve found other ways to finance MUNI so he’s gun-ho to rollback Sunday meter parking (he’s planning to ask voters to approve a $500 million bond in November to fund transportation).
I bet his colleagues at the SFMTA are thrilled with Lee’s desire to rollback the program and strip $6M out of their annual budget!
When we posted about Sunday parking last year, comments were mixed. A lot of people liked the idea because they would be able to park more easily when visiting commercial districts in the city on Sundays. But others were tired of the city’s nickel and diming.
What do you think? Should Sunday meter parking stay as is, or be eliminated again? Take the poll below and leave us a comment with your thoughts. Merchants, we especially want to hear from you!
Sarah B.