The SFMTA (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) oversees San Francisco’s Residential Parking Permit (RPP) Program. The program offers Residential Parking Permits to people who reside or own businesses in RPP Areas. The permits confer parking privileges to permitholders, usually the ability to park on a block for longer than the posted time limits (typically two hours) that everyone else must adhere to. Permits sold annually are connected to the license plate of the permitted vehicle, and the Agency also sells shorter-term guest permits.
Pay or Permit Parking which was first approved by the SFMTA Board of Directors in 2018, combines the benefits of RPP and paid parking. On Pay or Permit blocks, RPP permitholders for the area listen on the signs may park for free, just like they would in a traditional RPP Area. Visitors pay for parking just as they would on a metered block, either on their mobile device or at a paystation on the block.
Pay or Permit Parking better regulates parking in areas where one-hour or two-hour time limits are ineffective in ensuring the parking availability needed to support residents and businesses. SFMTA research shows that visitors crowd out residents in many RPP Areas and often stay longer than the posted time limit.
Pay or Permit Parking currently exists in parts of Hayes Valley and on two other blocks in the City. In 2023, the Agency received a grant of nearly $1.5 million from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to purchase paystations to explore expanding Pay or Permit Parking in high-demand residential and mixed-use areas of the City. Outreach for these projects began in Spring 2024 and will continue through the rest of 2024.
Pay or Permit Project Neighborhoods
- Cow Hollow/Union Street Corridor
- Hayes Valley
- Lower Haight
- Marina
- Current