San Francisco parking meters have variable pricing depending on demand

San Francisco – you might just leave your heart in that cosmopolitan city the next time you drop by if you’re a geek, especially when its new parking meters will come with automatically adjusting prices which will change, depending on demand. This is part of the 2-year SFpark experiment, where the new meters will be able to tell just how much in-demand the spaces they govern are, and can range anywhere from a quarter up to $6 per hour (!). The whole idea is to ensure there is a 20% amount of free parking space at all times, which hopefully will result a reduction in driving around just to look for a parking lot. Unlike the Dow Jones, don’t expect the prices to fluctuate wildly during the course of a day, as the prices will change once a month or less, and that only in 50 cent increments/decreases. Since the new meters will play nice with credit cards as well as an SFMTA card in the future, you won’t need to make sure there is spare change around the next time you pull up into one of these lots.