In search of parking perfection

San Francisco turns to wireless sensors

Sensors attached to parking spots will let San Francisco announce which spaces are free at any given moment. (Peter DaSilva/The New York Times)

SAN FRANCISCO - The secret to finding the perfect parking spot in congested cities is usually just a matter of luck. But drivers here will get some help from an innocuous tab of plastic that will soon be glued to the streets.

This fall, San Francisco will test 6,000 of its 24,000 metered parking spaces in the nation's most ambitious trial of a wireless sensor network that will announce which of the spaces are free at any moment.

Drivers will be alerted to empty parking places either by displays on street signs, or by looking at maps on screens of their smart phones. They may even be able to pay for parking by cellphone, and add to the parking meter from their phones without returning to the car.

Solving the parking mess takes on special significance in San Francisco because two years ago a 19-year-old, Boris Albinder, was stabbed to death during a fight over a parking space.

"If the San Francisco experiment works, no one will have to murder anyone over a parking space," said Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at UCLA, whose work on the pricing of parking spaces and whether more spaces are good for cities has led to a revolution in ideas about relieving congestion.

"It will have a cascade of positive effects on transportation and the economy and environment," he said.

About a dozen major cities are in discussions with technology companies to deploy so-called smart parking systems, though San Francisco is ahead in its efforts.

Gavin Newsom, San Francisco's mayor, said better parking systems were part of a broader approach to managing congestion without imposing restrictive tolls, as used in London and Singapore to discourage driving in downtown areas.

For Newsom, the largest part of the challenge is replacing the city's aging infrastructure.

"When I watch the movie 'Vertigo," ' I still recognize every single traffic signal," said Newsom, referring to the 50-year old Alfred Hitchcock film.

SFpark, part of a nearly two-year $95.5 million program intended to clear the city's arteries, will also make it possible for the city to adjust parking times and prices. For example, parking times could be lengthened in the evening to allow for longer visits to restaurants.