The San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency’s plan to extend parking meter hours has been nixed, said two members of the Board of Supervisors on Monday.
Supervisor Ahsha Safaí and Board President Aaron Peskin announced that they reached an agreement with the SFMTA to halt the parking proposal, which would have extended meter hours into nights and on Sundays, in exchange for dropping a ballot measure that would have given the mayor some oversight over transit fares and fees.
The transit agency, which is facing a budget deficit that may threaten bus service, floated the plan earlier this year and was met with pushback from small business owners and some lawmakers, who argued it could hurt residents of modest means.
“We’re looking forward to collaborating with the Board of Supervisors to come up with ways to generate the revenue that’s needed to keep providing San Franciscans with the transportation services they need and deserve,” Stephen Chun, an SFMTA spokesperson, said in an email.
No “decisions of commitments” have been made around the timeline for extended metering, Chun added.
In May, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging the agency to delay the idea pending an “independent economic impact report.”
At a brief special meeting of the Board of Supervisors Monday, Safaí said that he would drop his SFMTA ballot measure.
In its original form, the measure would have forced the mayor to affirmatively approve any increases to transit fares or changes to parking meter fees and hours of operation. Following pushback from transit advocates, however, it was watered down to simply give the mayor the ability to reject increases.
“The intent of this charter amendment was to provide San Francisco with accountability from an elected official for the decisions that affect their everyday transportation needs … But upon further discussion with transit advocates and the commitment from the SFMTA that they would halt their original plan to extend parking meter hours and days of operation, I’m withdrawing the proposed charter amendment,” Safaí said at the Monday meeting.
SFMTA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The transit agency earns substantial revenue from parking meters, which drew in about $52 million from nearly 23,000 parking meters from Sept. 26, 2022, to Sept. 26, 2023, according to an analysis by The Standard.
SFMTA had argued that extending the hours would help it to plug a looming budget shortfall worsened by the pandemic, which damaged Muni ridership.