Starting Jan. 1, San Francisco will charge visitors up to $4 an hour to park in Golden Gate Park, the San Francisco Standard reported.
Fees will apply between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. Hourly rates start at $1.25 and are higher east of Crossover Drive. Drivers will be able to pay at 25 kiosks planned around the park or through the Hotspot or Parkmobile apps. The Recreation and Parks Department estimates that fees from the 4,000 drivers who park in the park each day will produce $10 million in annual revenue, to be used for deferred maintenance and affordable recreation programs, the department told the Standard.
The plan has been in the works since at least last year, when the Board of Supervisors approved a plan to charge roughly $3 an hour until 6 p.m. across the park's 3,100 parking spots, though the hours have since been expanded with a more detailed fee schedule. Professional dogwalker Danny McCue, who drives clients' dogs to the Beach Chalet soccer fields, told the Standard the fee is "another cost when everything is getting more expensive, and my ability to raise rates isn't going up."