— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Google and other corporate shuttles have been disrupting life in the Mission, SOMA, and other neighborhoods easily accessible by the 101 for some time now. But, despite the oft-repeated claim that they help reduce congestion, pollution, and allow employees to go car-free, it's being found that they're just displacing the congestion from the highways and moving it into our neighborhoods. Tony Kelly, president of the Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association, reports in today's Chronicle:
[People driving around the Mission] are commuting here, parking their cars for the day, and then biking, walking or hopping on a private shuttle bus to their jobs. For them, the Mission is their free public parking lot.
San Francisco's parking enforcer, the Municipal Transportation Agency, tells us that on a typical day more than 80 percent of the cars parked on crowded northeast Mission streets arrive from elsewhere.
The situation is particular pronounced in the northeast Mission, where historically industrial streets are not covered by residential parking permits.
The parking crunch would have traditionally lead to a new resident parking district, allowing residents to park (for free) all day long, with commuters having to move their cars after 1 to 2 hours. As Kelly puts it, “that's been a key part of San Francisco's 'transit-first' policy, which is designed to keep residents' and commuters' cars at home.”
However, the city is instead looking to blanket the northeast Mission with parking meters, both on commercial and mixed-use residential/commercial streets, with hourly prices that fluctuate based on demand.
Kelly accuses the city of “turning its back on decades of transit-first policy” at the expense of Mission residents. But, really, it seems that MTA is just looking to cash in on the commuter's laziness.
Comments (55)
Pretty sure that most of the eople driving and parking in the mission are hopping on BART….
This. People drive north from the Peninsula, park, and ride BART downtown so they don’t have to pay expensive parking costs.
I ride one of these evil gentrification machines every day and so do many, many people I know. None of them do this. We all live somewhat near the shuttle stops… that’s kinda the point. Though this is admittedly anecdotal, I would put money on my experience being the norm.
Maybe this would be true for some other neighborhood, but most of the people who ride shuttles to/from the Mission probably also want to live in the Mission.
I don’t think anyone is denying that many commuters live in these neighborhoods, but it seems obvious that there are plenty who don’t live near shuttle stops and drive into the Mission for an easy pick-up…
So that’s you and Tony Kelly making the assertion. That’s great: where’s your evidence?
The city wants to end free parking. They are pretty clear about that. Just look into the Potrero brouhaha. Don’t believe everything you read, this sounds like some made up hooey.
For the TL, Kevin should interview you- so we know how the other, richer, half lives.
*Forget* the TL…
I think anecdotal evidence is better than no evidence at all (which is what this article has).
“Though this is admittedly anecdotal, I would put money on my experience being the norm.”
That’s called entitlement honey. Even when the article state the MTA says your experience ISN’T the norm you will still claim that it is.
Well it will be very easy if they do install parking meters or residents only permits to find out for sure if your wishful thinking is true. Or course I fully expect when it’s proven not, your company and your buddies will complain to city hall how you are being discriminated against and how exceptions have to be made for you hard working video game programmers and project managers.
MTA are the people who give out parking tickets. SF drivers know that they lie, and that nothing can be done about it. MTA has a policy to let people park illegally to go to church, not an honest organization
Somehow I don’t think MTA has installed monitors on all the parked card that track where they’re coming from. You know these busses go all over the cities, right? Why drive from the Marina to the Mission just to catch a bus when you could catch it in the Marina in the first place?
Meters will mean only the rich can park there. Residence Only Permits cause issues for employees of the many small service and manufacturing businesses in the area.
“Life in urban inner-city neighborhood disrupted by presence of busses, cars.”
This is intentional self-parody, right?
I e-mailed Avalos about the buses. He agrees some regulation needs to be proposed but said that “the Board of Supervisors does not have jurisdiction over our streets to regulate. Only the Dept of Parking and Traffic. All we can do is set penalties.”
Interesting.
I mean, holy shit LOOK at this!
http://stamen.com/zero1/
Map clearly shows a lack of busses in the NE Mission. Why would people park there if there aren’t any bus stops?
This is pretty prevalent in my neighborhood by 30th and Church as well (see a few people park on my block and walk to the stop every day,) as there’s a hole in permit parking between the S and Z permit zones.
You can petition the city to add these blocks to the permit zones (as has happened around 20th)
I live on Mission which is all metered and not covered by a residential parking zone. The gaps between zones are the only places I can park - please don’t shrink them!
i’m with you. a mission street address is considered commercial & denies any residents of those addresses residential parking permits.
how’s that for bullshit?
You can get your block eligible to receive permits, you just have to get another block permitted in the process. Also you can actually straight up petition the higher ups at SFMTA or the B.O.S.
oh, gee. that sounds like a snap! thanks (for nothing).
Have you considered suicide?
i would if i were you.
EG: I have to do something, that is too hard.
Here is the deal though if you don’t do something those last few blocks will get their ass permitted, then you will not be able to include them to get your block eligible.
yep, i don’t want to do it. the set up is bullshit even if there is a work-around. i live in a residential building on a commercial street, so why all the hoops to jump through? that’s my point.
How does the MTA know how many commuters are parking there? Do they run the plates of every car on the block to see who is local and who is not?
All these posts and nobody has pointed out that the bus in the photo is actually a casino bus? For shame!
It’s not a casino bus. It’s a commuter bus for Tesla employees.
You know what else creates congestion on the neighborhood streets? Bicyclists, parklets, traffic calming, and tearing down freeways.
By the way, there’s a meeting on Northeast Mission parking on March 21st, I think at the school on SVN and 20th. I don’t want everything metered. I have an “I” permit, but since the nearby streets are just the parking lot for all the new restaurants, that gets me a spot only rarely. I *often* have to drive minutes away and park on Shotwell or Treat. If those are metered, I’m doomed.
Goddamn!! San Jose is sure looking good right now……
Wish they would crack down on the fraudulent Handicapped tags. But I’ll probably get hate as being against the crippled for saying so.
Totally absurd to take MTA’s word in the first place. How do they know this? Because of the amount of tickets vs residency right?
Uh, area residents with cars learn street cleaning days and times right away! When I had a vehicle I knew where to look no matter what time of day, what days I could scoot in after a street cleaning, what streets were more likely to have legal openings etc. People that make more money are not going to care about getting a ticket once in a while either. Half the people in the Mission just can’t afford that extra tax. We freak when we get a $50 (?) ticket. Most of the readers of this blog probably don’t.
I agree with the premise, of transit first, and NO more parking meters. But the idea that 80% are not ‘from here’. This is ludicrous. I’ve lived
here for 20 years, and I can tell you right now, that ¾s on the cars on Folsom between 24th and 25th are people that live here. There is NO work day mass exodus of cars ‘leaving’ 4:30 pm to 6 pm!
I’m just saying he is undermining his argument by starting with a very seriously questionable fact. Start over, and say, “no regressive taxes on people using local businesses and people that live here….” …The parking tickets as they are, ($60 million a year??) are VERY weighed against the working class cuz we CANT rent garages!. He’s trying to make an evil ‘other’ to support his argument. Those higher paid new people, need more public transit too. Passing some laws or adding meters, OR permits, does not solve anything. We need money, And transit should be massively subsidized. And real estate speculation stopped, with at the least massive increase in transfer taxes, eradication of mortage right off etc… But that isn’t what liberals fight for. They like rich people, and wars. Just like the republicans. And more damn little fixes, and tired little battles. Cuz the big class war cuts to the heart of all the trouble….and they are usually part of the ‘trouble’.
By parking, you’re using public property as storage space for your own private property. Why shouldn’t the city be allowed to rent that space to you? Why should you get to take a chunk of public land for free?
Because we already pay taxes. It’s not free.
Agreed its an absurd number to say that 80% of the parkers are “not from here” who is saying that is either (1)so ignorant that they should not be near the handle of policy on this issue, (2) purposefully inventing false statistics to justify a policy that would fail on its own merits, but helps a sliver special interest.
It’s time for a new “Mission Yuppie Eradication Project”
If they really wanted to help highway congestion / environment.. then don’t offer busses… If they didn’t offer the busses then all these dot commers would move to be near there place of work, and I could get a drink without some jerk off in a startup t-shirt ruining my high.
Yeah, bus loads of people should move to new houses so Cliff can get his drunk on in peace. The world would be better thatta way.
FUCK YAH!
I’m with you, Cliff. People should live close to where they work if possible.
This is also starting to creep into the Western Addition.
SMASHIN’ TIME.
Google and others are externalizing some of the cost of their shuttles to the city by pulling into MUNI stops or blocking bicycle lanes. These shuttles are basically moving offices where employees spend roughly 20% of their work day.
In short they are occupying someone else’s reserved resource for a for-profit business.
Time to regulate and tax the heck out of these guys. It’s easy money. It’s not like their employees will move back to the SV. Way too uncool.
Don’t get this reserved resources term. What is that?
Seems like a good thing that a company helps employees be productive during commute time; a positive societal externality compared to the those people unproductive in their cars, or graffiting the insides of the muni buses
Its certainly a good thing for the employers!
I wish everyone just started driving again. All these busses on 101 are ruining my commute.
Time to paint bomb the buses. At least they would look more interesting.
Yeah, let Reyes paint ‘em up and all of a sudden all local blogs would be in total love.
This goes to show this city is full of whiners. Would everyone prefer these people all buy cars and commute down? We’d all be complaining about our very own commutes, lack of even more parking and how we’re killing this poor planet. I’m all for this even if a few parking spots get eaten up… get over yourselves.
Just saw this. Two clarifications, since it appears that most of the commenters aren’t familiar with the MTA’s attempt at parking planning in the Mission or with Mission parking in general -
The 80% number is from the MTA. Actually, it’s 84%. You can find it at their webpage about Northeast Mission parking planning. On a typical day (multiple days were studied), only 16% of the cars parked on Northeast Mission streets were registered to 94110 addresses. No matter how much you speculate about the vagaries of DMV registration, you are not going to be able to wish that 84% number down very much.
And, the shuttles I’m referencing aren’t the monster Google/Apple/Tesla/Yahoo/etc buses, but the smaller shuttle buses that take workers to offices in SF. In the Mission and Potrero Hill we have nearly two dozen of them.
Carry on.
Is there a link to the survey and methodology? Because I’m very doubtful, but on the other hand, if what you say was shown to be correct, then policies ought to change. But, again, I’m doubting….
MTA changed the chart to include 94110 and 94103 registrations in the same pie slice, but even with that it’s still 74% of parked cars in the Mission coming from outside those zip codes.
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/phome/documents/AreaofOrigin.pdf
Thank you for the clarification.
This ain’t the Southlands mang
That helps.
I’m now wondering how many of the cars are for people who work there, but don’t live there.
What about a two tier parking permit.
S how you live there, about $120 a year.
Show you work there, about $600 for six month.