San Francisco drivers to get textual content alert earlier than being towed

San Franciscans may soon want to pay more attention to text messages from unknown numbers. Starting this week, an annoying notification could alert them that their vehicle is about to be towed.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has launched an initiative that will send a text message to customers whose vehicles are to be towed for one of four parking violations: parked more than 72 hours; block driveways; building zones; Temporary no-parking zones, such as B. Special events or moving trucks.

Together, these categories accounted for 12,500 vehicle towings, or 27% of towed cars, in 2020.

Typically, a full-price first-time tow costs a whopping $500 to retrieve the vehicle, although there are a number of discount programs for eligible individuals. Recovering the car also requires the owner to pay any outstanding ticket debt.

“It touched me because it’s a fundamental quality of life issue,” said SFMTA Board Director Manny Yekutiel, who spearheaded the initiative. “It’s a very expensive city to live in, and it’s a difficult city in many ways, so how can we make things a little easier in our city?”

The idea for a text-before-tow program came from a chance encounter with a generous neighbor.

As Yekutiel tells the story, the battery on his Vespa scooter was dead in Bernal Heights when a guy stuck his head out the window, offered to drop jumper cables, and invited Yekutiel upstairs for a beer. They struck up a conversation, and the neighbor told Yekutiel about an idea he once had for a text-to-tow program.

It seems so simple, but San Francisco will be the first major city in the country to offer this type of service.

The goal of SFMTA is not to make life easier for drivers at the expense of transit. Director Jeffrey Tumlin has made it clear that towing is a necessary tool to ensure pedestrian safety, the proper operation of Muni service, and to prevent misconduct by car owners.

Vehicles will still be towed without a prior text warning if they are parked in, for example, rush hour tow lanes, drive-thru lanes and other curb areas where parking is clearly prohibited.

But the four types of violations selected by the Department of Transportation for this program represent those more likely to be the result of a benign error, forgetfulness, or a misunderstanding of ever-changing road signs in transient events.

“It is quite reasonable that you accidentally parked here,” said Yekutiel, who mentioned that he had been towed many times. “It makes sense to start in those categories to give people a little more grace.”

SFMTA hopes these warnings will shift at least some of the burden of road clearance from the traffic agency to motorists themselves.

“We hate having to tow cars to make the transit go smoothly,” Tumlin said in a statement. “We can clear the streets faster and serve our customers better just by sending a text message so motorists can move their cars.”

The SFMTA’s towing policy has come under scrutiny during the pandemic for the disproportionate impact it has had on people of color, people living in their cars and low-income earners.

Though the city has struggled to provide discounts and extended notice periods to eligible individuals, this program could give some of the most vulnerable residents another opportunity to avoid the costly and often disastrous experience of having their vehicle towed.

To receive an SMS, residents must fill out a short online form to register their license plate number and phone number. Notifications alert the person that a tow truck is approaching, but don’t include an estimated time of arrival. If the vehicle owner arrives before the tow truck, towing fees will be waived, but parking fees will still apply.

cgraf@sfexaminer.com