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A Mile Long Garage

In 1947, San Francisco considered building a 9 story garage nearly a mile long in the SOMA area that would have held 15,000 cars with elevated ramps connecting to a web of elevated freeways that were going to criss-cross the city.

I don’t see how concentrating parking like this ever made sense. What if you wanted to visit somewhere other than the few surrounding blocks? Perhaps via jetpack from the heliport on the roof?

Today, San Francisco is in the process of rolling out a new parking program named SF Park with variable prices that are regularly adjusted up or down on a block-by-block basis to try and maintain 15% of spaces available at any time. That works out to about a space or two per block.

In a popular neighborhood center at noon - were spaces might rarely be free, while a few blocks away there are plenty of spaces left after everyone leaves for work - the system will gradually increase the price of the congested spaces and lower them on the available spaces.

The program may put premium on parking right in front of your destination (if its in one of those busy areas at a busy time) but makes it more likely the spot will be open if you are willing.

SFMTA already has smartphone apps for iPhone and Android to help you find parking by their price or proximity, but any developer can tap into publicly available system to create navigation apps that directs you right into an empty space.