Smart Parking Making Inroads In SF

Core77 pointed me to a NYT article about San Francisco’s ambitious plan to install smart sensors in parking spots. With the proliferation of smartphones, the high price of gas, and the mounting road rage associated with city driving, these smart parking sensors are just in time. Here are the key elements of the program from the NYT piece:

Drivers will be alerted to empty parking places either by displays on street signs, or by looking at maps on screens of their smartphones. 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.

…and data from New York City traffic studies:

Not that New Yorkers need any reminders of their traffic problems, but a study released in June by Transportation Alternatives, a public transit advocacy group, reported that 28 percent to 45 percent of traffic on some streets in New York City is generated by people circling the blocks. The study also said that drivers searching for metered parking in just a 15-block area of Columbus Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side drove 366,000 miles a year.