SFMTA Board of Directors Approves Policy Recommendations to Improve Parking Access for People with Disabilities

Note: Video Presentation on the Accessible Parking Program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOW_U1li0AU&feature=youtu.be

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors yesterday approved a resolution supporting a set of policy recommendations to improve parking access for people with disabilities. Many of these policy recommendations will require state legislative changes. The recommendations, developed by the City’s Accessible Parking Policy Advisory Committee (Committee), a stakeholder group comprised primarily of disability rights advocates, include proven solutions used in other jurisdictions that are designed to increase access to parking for people with disabilities and improve parking availability for all drivers.

In October 2012, the SFMTA and the Mayor’s Office on Disability convened the Committee, and after six months of collaborative work the group came to a broad consensus on a package of policy recommendations to increase access to parking for people with disabilities and reduce disabled parking placard misuse. Under these policies, the SFMTA will:

• Increase the number of blue zones
• Improve enforcement of placard misuse
• Direct an equivalent amount of SFMTA revenue received from parking meters installed in blue zones to accessibility improvements
• Seek state legislative support for
  
  • Increasing oversight of the placard approval process
  • Allowing local jurisdictions to remove the meter payment exemption
  • Allowing local jurisdictions to establish reasonable time limits for placard holders in metered spaces and blue zones

Yesterday’s resolution passed by the board provides conceptual support for the recommendations; several of the recommendations require state law changes before local policies can change.

Some of the policy changes have already begun moving forward, such as improving placard misuse enforcement and planning for the increase of blue parking zones. Through its team of parking control officers dedicated solely to investigating placard misuse, the SFMTA has already increased enforcement 40 percent. This team confiscates roughly 1,800 placards per year; however, placard holders can use their placards no matter whose vehicle they drive or ride in, so proving the misuse of legitimate placards is highly labor intensive. The improved enforcement efforts will be combined with the citywide review and expansion of blue zone locations as well as the efforts to change state law.

The SFMTA Board added a requirement to the Committee’s recommendations directing the development of a discount program for low income drivers with disabled parking placards should state legislative changes move forward allowing local jurisdictions to eliminate the meter payment exemption. This additional requirement is in direct response to public feedback that low income people with disabilities who travel by private vehicle may be negatively impacted by the shift from free parking to meter payment.

SFMTA Board Chairman, Tom Nolan, expressed his conviction that the program should not proceed without protections for low income people with disabilities who drive or are driven in San Francisco, “We reviewed all of the feedback that was provided during six months of extensive public outreach and felt that it was imperative to consider the impact on low income individuals with disabilities who rely on cars and vans.”

The SFMTA and the Mayor’s Office on Disability will return to the community for additional input prior to establishing local time limits and meter payment requirements should state legislation change to allow cities to move forward with these recommendations.

“Every day, people with disabilities have trouble finding parking in San Francisco, making it more difficult to access our destinations, lead independent lives, and participate in our communities,” said Committee member Jessie Lorenz, Executive Director of the Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco. “Current disabled parking placard and blue zone policies are failing to increase access for people with disabilities, and reduce parking availability for all drivers.”

For more information on the Accessible Parking Policy Committee and its recommendations, please visit www.sfmta.com/parkingaccess.