Recognizing the negative impacts of cars and the importance of transit to streets, the Board of Supervisors adopted a Transit First policy in 1973 that requires streets be used to move people and goods as efficiently as possible. In places well served by transit, this means giving priority to transit and balancing the use of streets for pedestrians, bikes and cars. Our parking requirments need to be revised to support this policy by limiting parking supply–the single greatest incentive to drive–where transit and other modes are viable alternatives.

There is no doubt that parking is necessary and appropriate in areas away from transit and services. In these areas there is a real need for parking. Where transit and services are close by, however, limiting parking is essential to making transit and other alternatives work and to building good urban places. Without limiting parking, people will choose an auto-oriented lifestyle and continue to drive. Traffic will continue to worsen and we will never shift the balance in favor of ways of getting around that are more effective in moving people.

With this in mind, there are opportunities to apply tools for managing parking from the Better Neighborhoods Program to other parts of the city -- where transit and other alternatives make it possible to live with fewer cars.

In The Downtown

Downtown San Francisco is a compact, walkable place with a tremendous variety of services nearby. It offers unparalleled access to local and regional transit–all within a relatively small area. At the same time, traffic congestion is a problem. As more cars have come, downtown streets have become funnels for traffic – making them hostile, dangerous places for people and making transit service difficult. There is a real need to deal with the effects of traffic and to keep the streets safe.

The key is to carefully manage the parking supply. New parking should be kept to a minimum. New housing, offices and other commercial uses should develop programs to manage travel demand by a variety of means: improved transit service, enhanced sidewalks and pedestrian crossings, land shuttles and parking priced to encourage short-term use.

Within an Easy Walk of Transit and Services
Where major transit lines and neighborhood shops and services are nearby, housing can be built with less off-street parking, and hence more efficiently and affordably. New housing providers should be encouraged to provide as little parking as possible and to separate its cost from the cost of housing, making it easier for people to realize the financial benefits of owning fewer cars. Carsharing and other alternatives to private car ownership are an increasingly popular amenity in these areas; these should be encouraged to expand.

On Core Transit Streets
Streets like Market and Mission Streets, Van Ness Avenue, Third Street and Geary Boulevard carry the city's core transit service. On these streets, transit is frequent and readily accessible, and significant service improvements are being made or are underway. These are also commercial streets with the kinds of neighborhood-serving shops and services that make it easier to live with fewer cars, or without a car at all.

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