Despite having one of the highest expired meter fines in the country, it turns out the Municipal Transportation Agency is not, in fact, out to stick drivers with costly tickets. Or rather, the agency is at least generous enough to give local drivers the tools they need to avoid the tickets in the first place. As the Chronicle reports, the SFMTA is rolling out text message alerts and pay-by-phone options for parking meters starting with a test program in the Castro. more ›

Thankfully, the SF MTA board deadlocked in a vote to impose a one-hour limit on parking in spaces with a broken meter, meaning the old rules are going to continue to apply. A proposal to change the current rules, which are that you can park for free at a broken meter space for the duration of the space's posted time limit, was made to discourage people from tampering with meters -- L.A. recently banned parking at broken meters altogether for this reason. But with 300 to 500 meters broken at any given time in this town, making parking harder would have just pissed everyone off. [SF Appeal] more ›

Nothing in life is free, so it goes, and the same goes for parking. Yesterday, the SF MTA board voted to install shiny, new parking meters that would cover 1,340 new spaces on 37 street sections in 10 neighborhoods," reports the Chronicle. About half of these new meters will operate with congestion-based pricing, with rates that rise and fall with demand. more ›

In an effort to generate anywhere from $2 to $3 million a year, Mayor Gavin Newsom says he's warming up to the idea of citywide Sunday meters. Right now only waterfront and Embarcadero meters operate on Sundays. more ›

Everyone's favorite San Francisco rabblerousers, Matier & Ross, wrote an article on a proposal to raise parking meter violation rates. If approved, violating a meter's time downtown could result in a $60 ticket. more ›