(your headline here)

October 29, 2008 7:46 PM

San Francisco Parking: I'm in town for a week or so and looking for a cheap way to park my car within the city. I can't get a temp permit since I'm not a resident. (more boring details inside)

Nor do I know a resident with a car. Turns out you need to be a) a resident and b) a resident with vehicle registration to apply for temporary permits.

So, anyone have any other suggestions other than airport parking for a place around 10-15 bucks a day?

Also, if anyone has any ideas for a witty headline to this question, that'd be cool too.

posted by ryecatcher to Travel & Transportation around San Francisco, CA (6 answers total)

Previously

You can get a visitor's permit but you have to know a permanent resident.
posted by vacapinta at 8:24 PM on October 29, 2008

I know a great, centrally located block, just north of The Castro where non-permit street parking is allowed. It's one of the very few blocks in the city that's friendly to non-permitted cars.

You will have to move your car at least once in the week for street cleaning. I'm not 100% certain what the parking rules are / which day(s) you'll need to move it. I do know that the neighborhood is very safe and I parked on that block for three years with a pretty nice car and never had any issues.

Here's the block (Google Maps Link)

The parking is on all four sides of the very large block that makes up California Pacific Medical Center - Davies Campus. I hope you know how to parallel park. You may have to circle it about 4 or 5 times before a spot opens up if it's full - but that's not usual. I believe that each side has different days for street cleaning, so when you do have to move it, you can just move it to one of the other sides of the block.

Make sure you read the parking signs and obey them, the SF DPT is efficient and ruthless and will ticket you.

However, it's free. There are two trains (the N-Judah and the F-Market) and tons of buses you can take to get to that neighborhood - a place you'll definitely want to visit anyway.
posted by plasticbugs at 9:07 PM on October 29, 2008

The block in my post above is bounded by Duboce to the North, Noe to the East, 14th Street to the South and Castro to the West.
posted by plasticbugs at 9:15 PM on October 29, 2008

Parts of outer Noe, Diamond Heights, and Glen Park are non-permitted. Look at the annoyingly large map, find some options near where you are, drive there and double-check against the posted signs, and watch out for street cleaning.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 9:16 PM on October 29, 2008

There is non-permit and once a month street cleaning (first xxxday of the month usually) in various places around the city. Many streets around Cole Valley I know to have that. If you are parking at the beginning of the month, that may not work for you, but 1 street cleaning ticket if you avoid the permitted areas, and you'd stay within your parket budget.

This stuff is hard to look up on the internet, but this terrible site that only works 3% of the time may tell you the street cleaning and permit rules for a given location.

http://gispub02.sfgov.org/website/sfviewer/INDEX.htm
posted by gatorbiddy at 9:40 PM on October 29, 2008

Much of Twin Peaks (Clayton Street & above) is non-permit, and bus accessible. Also Cole Valley, as suggested above, which is right on the N-Judah line.
posted by judith at 11:20 PM on October 29, 2008