San Francisco, CA at a Glance

Location: San Francisco, California

Deployment: 11,700 in-ground sensors 

Applications: Real-time parking availability, demand-responsive pricing and parking analytics

Program: SFpark

The Challenge

San Francisco launched SFpark to test a new approach to managing parking in some of the city's highest-demand areas.

Led by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and supported by federal funding, SFpark combined real-time parking information with demand-responsive pricing. The goal was to make parking easier to find while reducing the traffic and unnecessary driving associated with searching for an available space.

Doing that required something cities had historically lacked: continuous, space-level information about where vehicles were actually parked.

Building Real-Time Occupancy Infrastructure at City Scale

For the SFpark pilot, Fybr, then operating as StreetSmart Technologies, deployed in-ground parking sensors across San Francisco.

The deployment provided real-time, space-level occupancy data that became part of SFpark's broader parking-management infrastructure.

Fybr's role extended beyond the sensors themselves. The system collected parking occupancy information and transmitted it through a wireless communications network for processing and delivery into the SFpark data environment. SFMTA used that information to support real-time parking availability, demand-responsive pricing and program evaluation.

In other words, SFpark wasn't simply a deployment of parking sensors. It was a city-scale parking data infrastructure project.

Turning Occupancy Data Into Parking Policy

SFpark used real-time occupancy information to help determine how parking should be priced.

For on-street parking, SFMTA used occupancy data from in-ground sensors to periodically adjust meter rates toward a target occupancy range of 60 to 80 percent. When blocks were consistently too full, rates could increase. When parking was underused, rates could decrease. 

Importantly, the objective wasn't to maximize parking revenue. SFMTA described its approach this way:

“The SFMTA was obligated to find the lowest rates possible to achieve its goals.”

The agency reported that, as a result, average rates at garages and meters decreased over the course of the pilot. 

Real-time occupancy data therefore became an input into parking policy: measure actual demand, understand how curb space is being used and adjust pricing to improve availability.

Delivering Real-Time Parking Availability

The same infrastructure supported another major SFpark objective: helping people understand where parking was available.

Occupancy information moved through a larger technology environment that included in-ground sensors, wireless communications, vendor systems, SFMTA's data infrastructure and public-facing parking information.

That distinction remains important for smart parking deployments today. 

The value of occupancy technology isn't simply knowing whether an individual space contains a vehicle. The value comes from turning that information into data that other systems, applications and parking-management decisions can use.

SFMTA-Measured Results

SFpark was much broader than its parking sensor network. The program combined occupancy information with demand-responsive pricing, new parking meters and payment options, parking guidance and other operational changes.

For that reason, the overall results of SFpark should not be attributed to Fybr's sensors alone. The sensor network provided occupancy information that supported the broader program.

SFMTA's formal evaluation found that, in SFpark pilot areas:

• Reported parking search time decreased 43%, from approximately 11.6 minutes to 6.6 minutes, compared with a 13% decrease in control areas.

• Parking occupancy was within the target range 31% more often, compared with a 6% improvement in control areas.

• Vehicle miles traveled associated with searching for parking decreased 30%, compared with a 6% decrease in control areas.

• Greenhouse gas emissions associated with parking search decreased 30%.

These are SFpark program outcomes, not results attributable solely to Fybr. But they demonstrate what a broader parking-management program supported by real-time occupancy information can accomplish.

What SFpark Demonstrated

SFpark demonstrated what becomes possible when a city has access to real-time, space-level parking occupancy data at scale. SFMTA incorporated that information into a larger parking-management environment supporting demand-responsive pricing, real-time parking availability and program evaluation. 

SFMTA's own evaluation concluded that the sensor network provided reliable occupancy information for its parking-management goals, while the broader SFpark program produced measurable improvements in parking availability, parking search time and the vehicle miles traveled and emissions associated with searching for parking.

Real-time occupancy data becomes most valuable when it moves beyond the sensor and becomes part of how a city manages the curb.

Sources

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency: SFpark Pilot Project Evaluation
SFMTA's formal evaluation identifies StreetSmart Technologies as “now known as Fybr,” describes the sensor architecture and performance, explains how occupancy data informed demand-responsive pricing, and documents the program's measured outcomes. 

Read the SFpark Pilot Project Evaluation

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency: SFpark Technical Manual
Documents the technical architecture, data infrastructure and operational design behind SFpark.

Read the SFpark Technical Manual

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency: SFpark Evaluation
SFMTA's public evaluation portal provides additional background and evaluation materials for the federally funded SFpark demonstration.

View SFMTA's SFpark Evaluation

Federal Highway Administration: SFpark
FHWA documents SFpark's demand-responsive parking strategy and program results.

View FHWA's SFpark discussion