Transit Agency Relaxes San Francisco Parking Enforcement During Shelter Order

By Jerold Chinn

Some San Francisco residents told to stay home for three weeks experienced added frustration with parking tickets issued for street cleaning violations Tuesday. The city has since revised that policy.

Mayor London Breed Tuesday evening at a press conference that parking control officers will no longer be issuing tickets for street cleaning violations as long as the shelter-in-place order is in effect.

Breed said:

“We understand for people who are quarantined it may be impossible to move their cars. However, for those of you who can move their cars during street cleaning, we ask you to do so. It helps us continue to keep the streets clean as much as we possibly can.”

Jeffrey Tumlin, who heads the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, said anyone who received a ticket for street cleaning Tuesday can have it waived by the transit agency. 

Supervisor Matt Haney brought the issue up this week as constituents in his district complained about being ticketed. He said Tuesday morning on Twitter

“We should only enforce parking rules that are essential to protect public safety.”

During the three-week period, the transit agency has additionally decided to not enforce 72-hour parking limits and towing, all time limit parking, residential parking permits, commuter shuttle and peak tow-away zones.

Tumlin said the agency has also suspended late penalties on tickets, is extending citation protests deadlines  and will not send delinquent citations to the Department of Motor Vehicles. 

The SFMTA will continue to enforce fire hydrant zones, red and yellow zones, “No Stopping” and “No Parking” zones, parking meters, blocked driveways, double parking and illegal parking in transit-only lanes and bike lanes. 

Tumlin explained that enforcing parking meters will keep spaces free in commercial corridors where essential businesses, such as grocery stores, remain open. 

San Francisco parking enforcement will be relaxed during the three-week shelter-in-place order. Photo by Wayan Vota/Flickr

As far as Muni service goes, buses and trains continue to run. Tumlin said Muni service is being directed toward neighborhood lines, commercial corridors and medical facilities, as ridership to the Financial District dropped 30 percent last week.

Express bus service trips to the Financial District have been canceled. Cable cars and the E-Embarcadero streetcar service have been replaced with buses in an effort to protect operators, Tumlin said.

The public can visit www.sfmta.com for further details public transit and parking enforcement changes in San Francisco.