From today’s San Francisco Chronicle:
Parking at a curbside meter in San Francisco could cost up to $18 an hour – or drop as low as 25 cents – under an experimental plan approved Tuesday at City Hall to set rates based on demand. The idea behind the project is to use pocketbook-policy to alter the behavior of drivers and reduce congestion.
In an article earlier this year about San Francisco’s parking pricing scheme, UCLA parking expert Donald Shoup explained:
“Every city I go to thinks they’re unique, but one thing that’s the same is the parking problem. It’s not a green policy to put solar panels on buildings and have people circling their block for hours.” “The only reason people are driving around in circles in New York and San Francisco is that the price of curb parking is so much lower than adjacent off-street parking, and if you want to park for an hour it’s a lot cheaper to drive around for 10 minutes looking for a spot.”
And hey, if pricing can work for parking, why not bridges?