Rethinking the curb (photo: Open Plans)

In 2011, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority launched a pilot to implement dynamic pricing at a small portion of the city’s on- and off-street parking spots. The pilot used new parking management technology to set the price of each spot according to its value, i.e. how often the spot is occupied.

Until then, San Francisco’s policy was as straightforward as most of New York City’s: 90% of curb space was free, largely unmanaged, parking. (New York City doesn’t actually know how much curb space is relegated to free parking but it hovers around 95%.) The philosophy behind the demand-responsive model was that the most frequently occupied spots must be the most desirable and coveted spots; therefore they should, and then did, cost more to use than those perceived as less valuable.

Quickly, the pilot showed results—traffic decreased by 8%; double parking by 22%. It took 43% less time for drivers to find a parking space, and the city earned $1.9 million in revenue. 

San Francisco was leaps and bounds ahead of most American cities at the time, and still is. Their groundbreaking efforts to reimagine the city’s curb space have brought order and efficiency to an area that mostly breeds chaos in New York. Acknowledging the high demand and competition for scant curb space has allowed SFMTA to create a holistic Curb Management Strategy that designates every curb section according to land use and context. Designations now prioritize people and active use – like freight, mobility, and public space – over private vehicle storage. The plan, and the underlying philosophy, has completely realigned San Francisco’s relationship to the curb.

Open Plans’ newly-released report, Curb the Chaos: Solutions for Cities at the Curb, explores how New York, and any city, can build upon pioneering curb work like this. 

Most cities aren't so much mismanaging curbs as they are under-managing them. Despite intense demand for this space – from deliveristas, freight, restaurants, mobility, and more – nearly all curb space across American cities is allocated for free car storage. The result is a streetscape that is lawless, unsafe, and suboptimal for every user. 

But there’s a better way. Like San Francisco, there are encouraging and inspiring examples around the country of how cities are wading into curb reform to make their entire city work better.

Seattle has been paving the way for a diverse set of curb uses for decades. They, too, operate with a curb priority framework that decenters private parking. Seattle’s explicit acknowledgement that the curb lane is for more than just parking serves as a foundational lesson in good curb management.

And perhaps surprisingly, Omaha, Nebraska has undertaken an ambitious curb management initiative using new technology to digitize curb uses (we created a sample modeled after their project with BetaNYC to show it is possible in New York City, too).

Engaging in strategic rethinking can reveal opportunities for tweaking existing policies, too. San Francisco realized that its commercial loading zones could double as pick-up/drop-off spots for noncommercial vehicles like Grubhub drivers or taxis; this small change increased productivity, commerce, and user satisfaction.

Technology is creating new possibilities, if cities and states are willing to use it. Lack of enforcement is a major barrier to effective curb reform; it doesn’t matter how many new loading zones a city designates if there’s always a car parked in them. Cameras can enforce those violations, as well as blocked bike lanes, bus lanes, and bus stops. And it works.

New York City’s own automated enforcement program, the largest in the nation, consistently sees a decrease in violations at each active location. After speed cameras started operating 24/7 in August 2022, speeding in those zones decreased 34%. The possibilities go far beyond red light cameras, but New York City can’t freely pursue them because we don’t have home rule. Every time a new bill proposes the use of technology, we must ask the state for permission.

Often, state government in Albany denies us that permission, like with the recent push to pass Sammy’s Law, which stalled in the Assembly. If we’re going to get serious about real change at the curb, both the City and the State must be willing to think, and operate, in new ways — like by giving the City permission to regulate and manage its own streets and curbs. 

The curb lane is a highly valuable, abundant source of real estate. Yet despite New York’s reputation for squeezing value out of every possible inch of the city, we’ve let this space languish. We’re not alone – curb reform is a relatively new field and, as our report shows, there are just a handful of cities doing transformative work.

But that could change quickly. The federal government recently awarded eight SMART grants to cities for curb-related projects, and the New York City Department of Transportation has also announced the pending release of a city-wide curb management strategy that will put the City in the small minority boldly pursuing holistic curb solutions. 

It’s worth considering that the Open Restaurants program feels like revolutionary reclamation of space, but it has only repurposed about 1% of New York City’s curb space. Imagine the exponential benefits to reimagining the curb at-large.

As New York City and others around the country begin to see the potential in curb lanes, we must learn from each other. Our report is a call for collaboration and shared learning – as well as courage. We have the evidence to show that curb innovations can improve health, happiness, commerce, and city coffers. Now local officials must heed the evidence, work together, and restore order to our curbs.

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Sara Lind is a co-Executive Director at Open Plans and Michael Sutherland is Policy Analyst at Open Plans. On Twitter, @saraklind & @msuthnyc of @OpenPlansNYC.