July 10, 2014

Hearing: Dedicated On-Street Parking For Carshare Vehicles


There's a hearing at City Hall tomorrow morning asking for public comment on dedicating certain on-street parking spaces to car share vehicles (Zipcar, City CarShare, etc.). In other words, you can't park your car in those spots. Parking is a big deal to some in Noe Valley, so we were glad to get this from Heather World:
The city’s program to dedicate on-street parking to car-sharing vehicles leaps forward July 11 when residents are invited to comment on 100 proposed sites, including seven in Noe Valley.

Two spots are proposed for 22nd Street and Noe and for Clipper and Sanchez. One spot is proposed for 24th Street at Sanchez, 29th Street at Dolores, and San Jose Avenue and Duncan Street.

The pilot program is part of the city’s effort to improve congestion and encourage car sharing, said project manager Andy Thornley.

About 450 of the city’s 275,000 parking spots have been identified as possible dedicated spaces for City CarShare, Zipcar and Getaround vehicles, though only 40 have been approved by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Board of Directors so far.

Noe would be the site of about two dozen sites, which will be vetted at public meetings.

The pilot ends in August, 2015. Car sharing companies are required to collect data from each car.

“We can see whether a given parking space is productive,” he said. The city will evaluate each space, looking at use and impact. “If it doesn’t prove out, it won’t be a permanent thing.”

The July 11 hearing, hosted by the SFMTA Sustainable Streets Division, will take place at 10 a.m. in Room 416 at City Hall.
Here's a link to more information about the Car Sharing Policy and Pilot Program, as well as a map of all locations in San Francisco [PDF]. If you can't make the meeting you can send your comments to Andy Thornley.

What: Hearing about proposed sites for dedicated on-street carshare parking
When: July 11, 10am
Where: City Hall, Room 416

[SFMTA: Car Sharing Policy and Pilot Program]
[Photo: SFMTA]

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I definitely like this. Making car share more obvious can only increase usage. Hey, it benefits the planet! I use Zipcar and having a car on the street, rather than in a crowded garage, will reduce my crashaphobia. Portland has cars on the streets, btw.

Anonymous said...

Richard, I live at 22nd and Noe Streets and object to the lack of notice to the neighborhood. Parking is a precious resource, and often City employees who don't live in the City make important decisions about parking without consulting us.

Why don't we put the car share spots in front of your home?

Noe Valley, SF said...

Anon -

We may have posted notice about the meeting late, but notices have been posted all over the neighborhood for weeks. And this has been a well-covered story here and elsewhere.

You may not have been able to make the meeting, but we included a contact email to make your voice heard.

Anonymous said...

Also in Noe Valley, 2 parking spots at Clipper & Diamond were proposed. Notice was posted, apparently for weeks, but it was pretty cryptic. "Establish tow-away no stopping except permitted car share vehicles" is not very clear unless you've been following this story in the press. I had not been following it so I had no idea what this meant without spending 20 minutes researching online. My neighbor had no idea what it meant either and my other neighbors didn't even see the "posting" (which was taped up on a nearby telephone pole in small print). When homeowners want to make zoning changes that might impact neighbors (views, etc.) to their property, notices are sent by mail to their neighbors located within a certain number of feet. When the city wants to privatize public property in front of our homes which absolutely impacts nearby homeowners (elimination of parking spots), no notices are sent by mail. Rather, cryptic notices in small print are quietly taped on telephone poles. I appreciate that this is a NIMBY issue but it is going to impact parking in our block - every single day for the next year - because many of the homes do not have garages. I think there would have been a more appropriate level of vetting if nearby homeowners had each received clear, transparent notices.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone provide information about what happened at the hearing on July 11? I assume the proposal was approved. Was there any representation from nearby homeowners included in the "vetting"? Thanks.

Heather said...

Four street parking spaces were approved to be dedicated to car-share organizations at the July 15 SFMTA Board of Directors meeting, and four more will be discussed at the next hearing tomorrow, July 18.

(The spots are not approved at hearings, only discussed. Depending on comments, spots discussed at hearings then go before the SFMTA Board of Directors for approval.)

The four spots on tomorrow's hearing agenda are:

FF. Sanchez Street, east side, from 24 feet to 60 feet north of 30th Street for two Zipcar spots

and

GG. 23rd Street, north side, from 24 feet to 63 feet east of Castro Street for two City CarShare spots

Here's a link to the agenda:
http://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/ph_7_18_2014_0.pdf

The four spots that were approved by the SFMTA Board of Directors are:

-One City CarShare spot on 23rd St, south side, from Church to 16’ west
-One Getaround spot on 24th St, north side, from 17’ to 37’ east of Sanchez
-Two City CarShare spots on San Jose Avenue, west side, from 23rd St to 34 feet northerly.

All are part of the city's pilot program to see if more shared vehicles mean more parking for everyone. Learn more about the project and see the latest map of locations at

http://www.sfmta.com/projects-planning/projects/car-sharing-policy-and-pilot-project

I have more information and plan to write a story in the September issue of the Noe Valley Voice.

Thanks,
Heather

Heather said...

Correction: only two spots have been approved. Sorry about that.