Paid Parking

Paid parking requirements have been implemented as of April 1, 2024 for Downtown Streets, Portions of El Camino Real, and City Parking Lots.

6/5/24 PROJECT UPDATE:

Hello San Bruno,

We are pleased to announce several updates to our paid parking program, effective today, aimed at further improving your parking experience in our community.

New Short-Term Parking Option In response to community feedback, we are introducing a new 20-minute parking option for 75 cents for on-street parking. This shorter-term option is designed to accommodate quick visits, such as picking up an order or running a brief errand. Please note that this option is available exclusively at the parking kiosks and not through the app or QR code. Unfortunately, the transaction fees associated with app or QR code payments make it impractical to offer this lower-cost option through those channels, as passing these fees along to the customer would negate the value of this short-term parking.

Pre-Payment Capability Additionally, we are implementing a feature that allows you to pre-pay for parking. This means that if you arrive before the paid parking period begins but plan to stay into the paid parking hours, you can pay in advance at the kiosk. This enhancement aims to provide greater convenience and flexibility, ensuring you do not need to return to a kiosk to pay once the paid parking timeframe begins.

Program Achievements and Ongoing Evaluation As stated in our previous communication, while the program is still early in its rollout, it is currently achieving its core objectives. These objectives, part of a City Council Strategic Initiative and stemming from the 2019 Downtown Parking Study, include increasing parking turnover on the Avenue, encouraging longer-term parkers to utilize City parking lots, and maintaining an 85% occupancy rate for on-street parking. Any potential adjustments to the program will be carefully analyzed to minimize unintended consequences that could compromise these successes.

City staff have been working on these changes for weeks, based on meaningful feedback from business owners who generally support this program and want to see it succeed. We will continue to evaluate the available data and make adjustments as appropriate. However, it is important to give the program time for parking behaviors and data to normalize, ensuring our decisions are driven by competent, informed analysis.

We appreciate the community’s ongoing support and feedback as we strive to make downtown San Bruno a more accessible and vibrant place for everyone.

5/22/24 PROJECT UPDATE:

Hello San Bruno,

There’s been a lot of misinformation circulating about the new paid parking program in the downtown area, so we’re providing this update to let you know where the program is at right now.

First of all, this program was deployed as a strategic initiative of your City Council, which the police department was asked to take over after multiple years of non-progress. This decision had nothing to do with any sort of corruption as has been suggested on one social media account. It was simply based on the belief that the police department could leverage its experience and resources to successfully deploy a program that had otherwise stalled for years.

The overarching goal of the parking program was to address a severe lack of parking turnover in the downtown area following a 2019 study that noted more than 100% occupancy rates throughout the day and week. This paid parking program targeted the 85% occupancy of on-street parking prescribed in the report, to better ensure that customers could find street parking when needed, and aimed to do so by driving longer term parkers into the various city parking lots throughout the area. While the program is still in its infancy, it is absolutely delivering on both of these objectives, an assertion supported by the data.

As with any new program, the rollout of paid parking has not been without its stumbles and challenges. There were early issues with paid parking kiosks losing power or connectivity. This was due to a combination of poorly positioned charging equipment and faulty batteries/fuses. We have since resolved these issues and have also established a regular schedule of system monitoring and service to address issues as they emerge. Over the last three weeks we are experiencing 97% up time on the kiosks, with prompt response when machines do go down. 

We are still having some issues with the coin drops on some of the machines, which are largely due to people putting foreign currency into the coin slots, and deliberate vandalism. We have been monitoring the machines that are being vandalized and will prosecute those responsible to the full extent of the law. We are testing a couple of different solutions to this problem as we speak and will deploy mitigating measures as they prove effective.

There have also been some requests for shorter parking durations to be available for on-street parking so that people making quicker pickups do not have to pay for an entire hour to do so. We have heard this request and are working through how this might be accommodated without reversing the desired effect that the program is having on parking turnover, and without compromising its fiscal sustainability. According to the city ordinances adopted for this paid parking program, the Police Chief has the discretion to adjust parking rates within the adopted range, which would include the addition of shorter parking increments. Such adjustments, however, must be based on maintaining the desired 85% occupancy rate, which we are currently hitting. There are fees associated with processing the payments for parking, which the City elected not to pass along to the consumer, but each purchase must be at a minimum price point to cover the transaction fees. 

Under this new system we have access to much more data about parking behavior than we have ever had before, and as we have reported from the start, shifts in the program policies and rates should be based upon that data with the aim of achieving the program’s objectives. For that data to be reliable for decision making, it must be collected over a long enough period of time to be indicative of sustained behavior, a threshold that has not yet been reached.

We will continue working to address the inevitable issues that arise with this program. As we speak, we are working on better signage in the parking lots, a broader wayfinding signage project for downtown, QR-code cards for businesses, permit parking options for residents, etc. We are also working diligently with our new parking enforcement resource, LAZ Parking, to ensure that their representatives are conducting themselves courteously and professionally in our community. 

Thank you to the many business owners who continue to support our extensive efforts to deliver on this City Council Strategic Initiative. We appreciate you very much.

Downtown Parking Meters and Enhanced Parking Enforcement Project

You may have noticed that the parking pay stations and associated signage have been installed downtown on city streets, city parking lots and along portions of El Camino Real. Parkers are required to pay to park on posted streets and City parking lots effective April 1, 2024. 

How to Park and Pay in Payment Required Parking Areas

The paid parking system uses a convenient pay-by-plate system so there is no need to remember a parking space number or return to your vehicle to place a receipt on the dashboard. Drivers that park in a payment required street parking space or city parking lot can pay for their parking several ways:

     1.  Use a nearby pay station to pay.

     2. Scan the QR code or use the posted “Text To” code on a nearby Payment Required sign to pay with secure mobile pay on their smart phone. The parking rates  for secure mobile pay are the same as the pay stations; there are NO additional transaction fees.

Pay stations and Payment Required signs with QR codes are specific to each City Lot; parkers should ensure they use the pay stations/QR codes for the City Lot they are parked in. Pay stations and Payment Required signs with QR codes are also specific to the street zone; either Downtown Streets or El Camino Real.

Video: How to Pay for Parking with Mobile Pay

Payment Required Parking Areas

Business Owner and Employee Parking Relief Program

A business owner and employee parking relief program has been established for businesses physically located on streets in the downtown area with metered parking. Businesses on El Camino Real are not included in this program. The program provides up to 2 virtual parking permits per physical business location, which allow the pre-designated vehicles to park in City parking lots at no charge. Employees of these downtown businesses can also purchase a monthly virtual parking permit to park their vehicle in City parking lots for $30/month. There will be a small permit fee and convenience fee for each permit. Businesses can also opt to purchase the employee permits for their employees. These program permits are issued to specific vehicles and are not transferrable. The relief program permits are only valid to park in City Lots and are not valid on streets with paid parking requirements.

Qualifying business owners and employees may use the below link to create a business or employee account and apply for their virtual parking permits. Accounts and permits for this program are subject to verification.

Business Owner and Employee Parking Relief Program Account and Permit Website

Pay Station Issues

Any issues with a pay station can be reported to LAZ Parking by email or phone: SBrunoenforcement@lazparking.com or 510-377-7951 . Please provide a description of the pay station’s location and the problem so it can be quickly forwarded to the support team for a prompt resolution. Public feedback is valuable in helping us improve the parking experience for everyone in San Bruno.

Project Background

The City Council Strategic Initiatives for FY2021-22 included deployment of a comprehensive downtown and El Camino Real corridor parking meter program and enhancement of citywide parking enforcement capabilities. To accomplish this Strategic Initiative, in 2023 the City Council approved comprehensive paid parking regulations and contracts with vendors for the multi-use parking pay stations and city-wide parking enforcement services. This initiative implements the City’s Downtown Parking Management Plan, which was approved by the City Council in 2019. The Plan identifies appropriate supply, distribution, and management of parking within the downtown to accommodate current and future parking demands and minimize spillover into residential areas.