That's pretty cool.<p>But I wonder what would happen though if this sort of money was put into improving MUNI instead (rather than cutting budget/service like they did this year). Might even go towards solving the parking problem too.
Video Summary:<p>San Francisco recently counted all of their parking spaces in preparation for the SFPark system which will dynamically adjust prices based on demand. There are a total of 441,541 parking spaces, 280,000 on street parking spaces, and 25,000 metered spaces.<p>The new parking system will have electronic parking sensors in each of the spots and will feed this data to an intelligent traffic routing system to direct drivers to the open parking spaces. During peak parking hours the system will increase parking prices to encourage people to run their errands during other times if their schedule is flexible. Also by making the parking data available online it will help people make better transit decisions and possibly take public transit if no parking is available. The goal is to make more land area available for urban living rather and less land wasted on parking.<p><a href="http://hnsummary.com/2010/03/29/san-francisco-counts-its-parking-spots/" rel="nofollow">http://hnsummary.com/2010/03/29/san-francisco-counts-its-par...</a>
I think this video mostly ignores the real reason for the system: the parking control officers know exactly which cars are in violation, and can rush to ticket them before they move. At $53 (or $63) per ticket, this is going to yield millions more in parking ticket revenue.
This city is a big rip off and is greedy. If they adjust the pricing, they need to do it across the board so that some of these garages don't have a license to steal. Personally I think it discourages commerce and freedom for the merchants and citizens. Everyone is for it probably already takes the bus or does not have a car. Everyone should be able to make their own choices without getting ripped off by this greedy city. They are already raising the meters which means a bundle so what they are doing is condoning greed.
It sounds great but can't they get rid of the ugly meters too?<p>In NYC, there's a box on the block instead. Haven't used one in a while but I think you get a printed receipt. You probably don't even need a box. Everyone can just go to a web page and see the status for the block, including the meter person. Next, RFID in car talks to parking spot? :-)
<i>441,541</i> parking stalls private and public in the 49 square miles and how many registered vehicles? About 500,000 isn't it?<p>Buy a Fast Pass or learn to juggle.