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by hnsummary 5931 days ago
Video Summary:

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.

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.

http://hnsummary.com/2010/03/29/san-francisco-counts-its-par...
2 comments
derefr 5931 days ago
> 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.

Doesn't this mean that people with inflexible schedules (i.e. people who are in lower income brackets) will be charged more?

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hnsummary 5931 days ago
Driving is a luxury not a right. Parking should get more expensive to curb demand, lessen traffic congestion on the streets and make it more friendly for other modes of transportation. Public transit, biking, and walking are options to be considered.
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abossy 5931 days ago
Keep in mind that SF is highly gentrified. Lower income people get pushed out to Oakland and to the cities south of San Francisco. Additionally, lower income people have less options when choosing a place to live. Hence, a car might be the only viable option for some.
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abossy 5931 days ago
"Doesn't this mean that people with inflexible schedules (i.e. people who are in lower income brackets) will be charged more?"

If their inflexible schedules coincide with the time during which there are expensive rates, then yes.

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enf 5931 days ago
If you want text instead of video, http://sf.streetsblog.org/2010/03/29/san-francisco-first-cit...
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