The San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency has an ambitious pilot program that will allow car-sharing companies to obtain street parking permits for their vehicles. Last week's presentation to Castro merchants by City CarShare was short on details, leading to questions and initial opposition by many in the audience. But a lengthy conversation with MTA's Andy Thornley provided a more nuanced understanding of the program, for which MTA will carefully consider proposed locations and work to alleviate concerns by small business owners.
It's important to note that while City CarShare made a presentation at the merchant group, it is just one of three companies that are eligible for MTA's pilot program – the others are Zip Car and Get Around. Under the program, the companies would purchase permits for street parking spaces dedicated for their cars. When the shared vehicles are in use the spaces must remain empty because those cars will return to the same spot for the next user. Consequently, a parking space could sit empty all day, depriving others of using it. The car sharing companies are required to maintain the area around the space, because their cars won't be moved for street cleaning.
Thornley said that it's up to the car sharing businesses to do community outreach, and if that's the case, improvement is needed. City CarShare spokeswoman Emily Van Gulik was vague at last week's meeting; she distributed a map that didn't have an accompanying legend showing what was proposed and what was already approved. Van Gulik did return our call this week, and was clear that City CarShare is not proposing any spaces on Castro Street and that the company will take into consideration concerns and work with the community.
Thornley said this week that so far there aren't proposed spaces directly on Castro Street. MTA believes the spaces, which are suggested by the car share firms, should be mostly in residential areas since that's where the users likely will come from. Thornley acknowledged that parking is a tough issue to address in the city; MTA oversees 275,000 parking spaces citywide, but if you're driving around the block for 30 minutes looking for parking, you'd probably think that's not enough. The goals for this pilot program are to collect data on who uses the car sharing service, how long the vehicles are gone, and how many miles they travel, all of which will help determine any permanent car-sharing street parking program that the city launches. Thornley said the pilot program would end next August.
Some spaces in other city neighborhoods have already been approved by MTA, and hearings are ongoing about proposed sites. There's a hearing Friday, August 15 at 10 a.m. at City Hall to discuss a small batch of spaces. Thornley said he didn't believe any were in the Upper Market or Castro areas. After the MTA hearings, the full MTA board will vote on these spaces before they become part of the pilot program.
MTA advocates for fewer cars and views car sharing as a good solution for someone who needs a car for a few errands or occasional use. Thornley hopes that as more people use car share, they might not buy a second car. If a car share vehicle is given a dedicated parking spot on a residential street, neighbors will see it and use it as a convenient alternative.
This process started a year ago, and MTA is now at the point of determining actual space locations. Thornley said that if an approved spot proves problematic, it's an easy fix of repainting the curb to take the space out of the program.
We would like to see better information provided to Castro residents and merchants by the car share companies, so that instead of negative reactions, there can be a more thoughtful discussion. They all should be in the neighborhood explaining why they selected specific locations, and must be willing to listen to feedback and, if warranted, make refinements.