San Francisco Parking Meter Cards Program

Surcharges: $ 2.50 (S&H) to buy one online.
Surcharge: $ 3 fee to buy it at the SFMTA office.
So, I went to buy one, armed with the list of retail outlets, where there’s no surcharge. I went to 4 of the outlets close to the SFMTA office. NONE of them actually had cards for sale.
says they updated the list last month, but it still lists Whole Foods, and when I went there, a couple months ago, they said they no longer sell the cards. Cashier even checked with a manager. :-(

If you’re driving it’s best to avoid Ocean Avenue businesses, in general, unless you have plenty of quarters and don’t want to run one more errand. The SFMTA carts patrol that street with a vengence. Meters there don’t take cards. Seems everyone I’ve asked gets a ticket at least once in a while if they use Ocean Ave. (Ingelside). It’s set up that way. It’s sad the city is hurting the struggling, small businesses there as well as the lower income residents that may be older and have trouble getting back to the car in time. SFMTA damages small businesses and patrols some streets far more frequently than necessary to enforce parking access.

Love the SFMTA parking cards… saves me when I have no change on me.

I’ve been using the parking meter card program since they first implemented it a few years ago, works great. But not a fan of the new «SFpark» metering system being installed in downtown starting this Monday ⁸⁄₂₃.
Glad that the new meters can accept credit card payments and include a sensor that sends a signal when the spot is empty. Don’t know if the system can call a meter maid when the time expires (hope not).
But these new meters also have the ability to change pricing with demand (
), so if a parking space is used often, the next month it’ll charge 50 cents more per hour (up to the current max. allowed). The reverse happens for unused spaces, charges 50 cents less the next month — not likely to happen, since there’s a lack of enough parking spaces in the city.
As part of this upgrade plan, later the max. metered rate allowed will increase to $ 6 per hour, and add a min. rate of 25 cents per hour. Currently most parking meters charge $ 3.50 per hour (as low as $ 2 per hour in certain areas). Compare that to San Mateo residents that only pay 25 – 50 cents per hour.
SFMTA’s excuse is that SF parking rates haven’t changed in years, but fails to mention that metered parking at major cities around the country has been around 75 cents to $ 1.50 per hour. Raised to $ 2 per hour in a few cities just this year. We have been paying the highest parking rates in the country and now they’re going to be doubled.
If that wasn’t bad enough, during sport events the metered rates will increase up to $ 18 per hour, even for those not attending the game. How crazy is that?

Don’t BUY! I thought these cards would be great since I live in the city and I carry rolls of quarters in my car just for meters– what a great way to stop having to go to the bank for refills.
They sell the cards at Whole Foods, but I went twice and they were sold out! Why is the city not providing enough of the cards? You would think they’d have enough since no one actually knows about the program.
So I bought the card online. It was great until I couldn’t find 1 meter that actually TOOK the card! Every single meter that I’ve parked at says the same error «card reader error. use coins» What’s the point of having the card if none of the meters will take them! I’ve tried meters in downtown, sunset, hayes valley, EVERYWHERE.
I’ve tried calling customer service and was on hold for over 18 minutes without ever talking to an actual person. So much for friendly customer service.
Now I feel like I’ve been scammed and have a useless piece of plastic that cost me $ 50.

Unilocal decided to break the system by not letting me update the URL for this «business.»
If you need to purchase it online, it’s available at
If you need to purchase it locally, see
There’s an option to sort by zip code.

I was going to give the SFMTA Parking Card 4 stars, but lets be honest. As much as I hate dealing with SFMTA in general, this card is probably the best thing that’s happened to me in the last year. No joke. I love utilitarian gifts, and it doesn’t get much more straight forward and useful than this.
Once upon a time I carried a $ 10 roll of quarters with me at all times for parking, and always found myself out at the worst possible time (strip club for lunch)… Plus I’d constantly use my parking money for odd’s n’ ends when need be, exacerbating the issue. Now, I can not only more easily expense my parking throughout the city for work, but I don’t look like a freak with a cup of quarters in my car! Two birds with one stone! Nice job SFMTA!
Not to mention you can get them at a decent number of places all over the city, you don’t have to deal with the miserable SFMTA site to order them, and in nearly a year I haven’t had one issue with a card not working.

This is one of the best kept secrets in San Francisco! Let’s face it — parking in the city is NOT cheap! At $ 3.00 (or more) an hour, who in their right mind would have enough change in their wallet/​car to feed the meter? Solution? SF Parking Meter Cards!
I always keep one in my car. You can buy these at the MTA office, their online website (free shipping) or at Whole Foods. They come is $ 20 or $ 50 denominations. You insert the card into the meter and $ 0.25 increments will be deducted from the card. Simply remove card when you’ve happy w/​the amount of time you have on the meter. This couldn’t be easier!
I’d give it 5 stars if there is a way to refill them, but this still beats carrying quarters!

It’s a must have addition to your wallet… most convenient way of feeding the meters without having to dig for change. The MTA website offers the fastest way to order the cards, once the balance is zero. $ 20 & $ 50 options are available. I seem to do well with the $ 20 meter card, as it lasts me a long time. If you purchase these cards at City Hall, be sure to have cash. Every metropolitan city should implement parking meter cards… they’re awesome! After use, don’t just throw them away, recycle them. I’m sure the city is working on a way to refill balances onto these cards, so that we keep the same one forever.

For the last 3 or 4 years, I have carried these cards as an alternative to the roll of quaters in the glove box.
Other reviews below have the handy info web links — including local merchants.
I usually buy the cards at Fredrickson’s Hardware on Fillmore near Union. You do need to ask the front dest staff for the cards. I believe that you can pay for the card with your credit card. Fredrickson’s happily does not have a metal detector for the shoppers. They also have great hardware.

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME.
It makes me feel like I am paying less since I don’t have a pocket of quarters ripping through suit pants. How can this be a bad thing?

Although parking is getting more and more expensive in San Francisco (rarely do I get 10mins to a quarter… maybe just on Clement)…I find myself almost addicted to these cards. I’m always the one that forgets to leave quarters in the car so I have to find somewhere to make change. We’ve never had any problems with them, but sometimes you have to put it in the meter a few times before it reads. Usually you can feel it click when it reads.
I pick up my cards at Evergreen Pharmacy on 20^th and Geary. I don’t like how I have to have cash to pay for them though :(

OK, this is my update! this thing just went down in stars! I barely used my parking meter and it went dead on me! I can’t use it no more! The meter always says that it reads error, which is frustrating!!! Haven’t tried customer service though… we’ll see after I call the customer service.

Anything that saves me from getting parking tickets is really rather fabulous. Minus a couple of stars because I shouldn’t ever have to pay to park anywhere, and the lifers over at the Municipal Transportation Agency seem to be doing their best to keep this program top secret.
Why not put a little sticker on the meters saying «hey citizen, if you were smart you’d have a prepaid parking card available in demoninations of $ 20 or $ 50 that would fit right into this slot here» and then a little sticker that says «and here’s how you’d buy a card citizen» with some handy instructions… but no, it’s kind of a word of mouth thing…
So here’s where you buy ‘em in the real world:
and on teh interwebz:
In other reviews I see that you may have to pay cash at some places to purchase a card, and the cards do have an expiration date on them, but maybe they have to be sold by that date and not used by that date, and it is possible to purchase them at 1 South Van Ness (ground level) but you have to go through a bag check security area and then stand in two different lines-​the first one to get a number so that you can sit down and then get called to a window when they’re ready to serve your number even though there seem to be plenty of clerks behind the windows doing absolutely nothing, but this is the city and county of we’re talking about here people and then when you finally get called you can pay with a card to buy your card and apparently there are some machines that might get plugged in some day so that you can avoid two lines and the feeling that you’ve entered some alternate universe where time moves sloooooower but in a few years, the cloak of secrecy will be removed and they’ll have the kinks worked out. BUY ONE OF THESE CARDS IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

4-​stars because it’s not foolproof
— needs to be refillable
— needs to let me pay for other things, e.g., MUNI

These cards are the best!
However, I am taking back one star (I unhesitantly gave this five stars at first) because this program is not advertised as much as it could be! Also, there are few locations to actually buy these cards in person. I mean, Muni Fast-​passes are sold at alot of places; why not the MTA parking cards? I think that it would behoove the MTA because (unfortunately) they would eventually make more money from this program. The card spits out time in 25-​cent increments… my tendency is to leave the card in a while, spending freely, so I end up paying more than if I were to scrap change together. It is like invisible money!
Well, at the risk of shooting myself in the foot, I am still advocating that this program needs more attention and everyone who parks in the City should get one… it will save you the headache of buying candy bars that you don’t want for change.

This is the most brilliant idea ever.
I love never having to dig for change when I park at a meter in the city. Even better that I can order online and voila! A new card in my mailbox the very next day. I heart my San Francisco Parking Meter Card.
Potentially Negative Post Script:
I read somewhere — the Chronicle perhaps? — that ALL meters within the SF city limits have been configured to accept the card. Well as of last month, a couple of meters across from Pier 33 were still only accepting good ol’ coin. So the parking meter card was, in a word, useless. But I’m not holding it against the city just yet. The convenience of every other meter I’ve parked at having the card option available still makes me quite happy. So a full 5 stars are in order.

Just got my San Francisco Parking Meter Debit Cards in the mail. It was easy as
on their user-​friendly website. I also conveniently added the amount to my «Pay Me Back Parking» on my WageWorks account for additional savings. Sweet!
I can’t wait to drive home to try out my new card!
Yeah…something’s definitely wrong with this picture.

As we all know, looking for parking in the streets of San Francisco can be an intensive nightmare. If a wonder occurs, getting a parking spot is a bonus, but finding loose coins for the parking meter can also be a troublesome hassle.
The city established a program, where can buy a card, which is similar to a gift-​card at retailers, and use the prepaid card to pay for your metered parking throughout the Bay-​Area without the hassle of carrying dirty loose change. We’ve been victims of finding parking, but don’t have the change.
Every now and then, as a victim, we would go to the corner-​store and make an attempt to ask for change for a single-​dollar to feed the parking-​meter and the clerk might rudely say,
«If you want change, you must buy something! Now leave my store or I’ll call the police!»
Well thanks to the SFMTA card, the «using the coins in parking-​meters» are slowly becoming obsolete process.
The procedure starts when your expired meter:
–insert your card in the selective digital parking-​meter
–the minutes will increase for every minute (s) the quarters offer (seems like $.25 for 2 minutes for parking-​hungry San Francisco)
–when the meters maxed out to the hour (s) of the meter, it’ll show the balance of your card.
These cards can be purchase at retailers where you buy your Fast-​Trak, MUNI fast-​pass and token. Now if they have places, where you can buy a prepaid card for your laundry, Matt will be one happy-​man!

Scrounge for coins no more. Since Dec. 2005, most parking meters in San Francisco have accepted pre-​paid smart cards that can be bought online from the MTA website.
You insert the card (available in $ 20 or $ 50) and the chip on the card tells the meter how much money remains. You then wait until the meter deducts 25-​cent increments until the desired time shows up in the display.
If I could only use these cards for the laundromat and newspaper stands…