1955: San Francisco established its first residential parking space requirements of one space for each newly created dwelling unit.

1960: Revisions to the Planning Code were adopted which continued the residential requirement but allowed one of the required spaces to be a tandem space, and added requirements for commercial and industrial off street parking and loading for the first time. No residential or commercial parking was required in the Downtown Commercial (C-3) districts.

1964: The provision allowing a tandem space was dropped from the Planning Code, mandating instead that all required spaces be independently accessible.

1968: The Planning Code was amended to require special permission (conditional use) for providing on-site parking exceeding 150% of the minimum requirement. A residential parking requirement, ranging from one space for every five to one space for every two units, depending on the number of bedrooms, was added for the Downtown Commercial (C-3) districts.

1973: BART begins rapid transit service between San Francisco and the East Bay; City adopts its first Transit First Policy.

1970’s: first reductions in non-residential Code-required parking.

1985: Downtown Plan and rezoning of the downtown commercial district (C-3), eliminated minimum commercial parking requirements downtown, and established a cap of 7% of gross floor area dedicated to office parking. Residential minimums were retained, and no limits placed on retail or short-term parking.

1988-1992: Van Ness Special use district created, which increased residential minimum parking requirements to 1:1 from the previous .25:1

1995: The revised Transportation Element of the General Plan offers strong critique of automobility, and creates policy support for transit first and reduced automobile dependence.

1997-1998: Mission Bay Plan adopted, the first to eliminate minimum residential parking requirements, and establish a cap of 1:1 (one parking space per dwelling unit)

approximately 2002-present: Planning Commission starts requiring unbundling of residental parking in large individual projects as a condition of approval.

2002: Draft Market and Octavia Plan was the first draft plan to call for residential parking maximums below 1:1, and proposed two new zoning designations (RTO, residential transit-oriented) and NCT (neighborhood commercial transit-oriented) with no minimum residential or commercial parking requirements.

2005: Rincon Hill plan adopted, with no minimum parking requirements for residential and non-residential uses, a .5:1 maximum by right, and 1:1 with conditional use, so long as the developers use non-independently accessible parking layout. All parking required to be underground, and parking entrances were prohibited on Folsom Street. First neighborhood plan to require all residential spaces be unbundled, minimum residential bicycle parking requirements (.5:1) and dedicated car-share spaces in larger developments.

2005: Transbay Redevelopment Plan adopted, with no minimum parking requirements, 1:1 residential maximum by right, and the requirement that all parking be underground.

2005: Draft zoning amendments for Market and Octavia released, which increased the proposed residential parking maximums.

2006: Downtown Parking Reform Ordinance, Sponsored by Supervisors Daly and Peskin, working with Livable City. In the Downtown Commercial (C-3) districts, it eliminated residential minimum requirements, established the first residential maximum below 1:1 (.75:1 for studios and one-bedroom units), and required that all parking, save for three sites in the Mid-Market area, be located underground, or on the ground floor if wrapped in active uses on all public frontages. The legislation banned new driveways on Market Street, and restricted new driveways on other important walking, cycling, and transit routes in the downtown. Citywide, it established minimum residential bicycle parking requirements (.5:1) and car-share requirements in larger projects. The amendments allowing parking on upper floors under specific conditions were added after a mayoral veto of the first piece of legislation.

2007: Market and Octavia Plan adopted by the Planning Commission, with parking requirements set at the C-3 levels.

2007: Eastern Neighborhoods draft zoning plan released, which called for eliminating minimum parking requirements in East SoMa and portions of the Mission, Showplace Square, and Central Waterfront neighborhoods.

2007: draft Balboa Park planning controls released, proposing no minimum parking requirements in the commercial and mixed-use zones, while retaining residential minimums in the residentially-zoned areas.

2007: Western SoMa Citizens Planning Task Force votes to support elimination of minimum residential and commercial parking requirements in the portion of the plan area north of Harrison Street.

November 2007: Two-thirds of voters reject Proposition H, which would have effectively eliminated downtown office parking maximums and locked in existing residential and commercial minimums across most of the city.

April 2008: With the strong support of neighborhood associations within the plan area, the Board of Supervisors approves the Market & Octavia Neighborhood plan, with lower residential parking maximums similar to the 2002 proposed controls.

June 2008: Board of Supervisors approves legislation, sponsored by Supervisor Peskin working with Livable City, to eliminate minimum parking requirements for group housing and housing dedicated to seniors and people with physical disabilities, require unbundling, and permitting space-efficient parking (stackers, lifts, and valet parking) and tandem parking (under certain conditions) without special approval.

June 2008: Draft Western SoMa plan released for public review; proposes eliminating minimum parking requirements and establishing maximums throughout the Western SoMa plan area.

August 2008: Draft Eastern Neighborhoods rezoning forwarded to the Board of Supervisors by the Planning Commission. The rezoning proposes removing minimum parking requirements in Eastern SoMa, most of the northeast Mission, and the Mission Street, 24th Street, and 3rd Street corridors, but leaves one-space-per-unit requirements in place throughout most of the residentiallly-zoned portions of the Mission and Potrero Hill.

Eisenhower-era parking requirements still prevail across most of San Francisco, but the city's most recent plans and policy changes are embracing new thinking about the role of reduced parking in creating livable and sustainable cities. The 1970's saw the emergence of the environmental, historic preservation, and livable streets movements that offered a strong critique of automobile dependence. The opening of BART in 1973 provided the impetus for limiting commuter parking in San Francisco's growing downtown, which resulted in the first parking limits as part of the city's Downtown Plan.

Most of the reductions in parking requirements have occurred over the last decade. Between 1968 to 1997, every neighborhood in the city had a minimum residential parking requirement, no neighborhood had a residential maximum, and only one neighborhood (downtown) placed an upper limit on the amount of non-residential parking. By the end of 2007, Downtown (C-3), Rincon Hill, and Mission Bay allow car-free housing by right (car-free housing is allowed in the Tenderloin, but only with special permission from the zoning administrator), and all three neighborhoods have both residential and non-residential maximums. With the adoption of the Market and Octavia Neighborhood plan this year, and if the Eastern Neighborhoods plans are adopted this year, a significant swath of the city will have swapped minimum parking requirements for parking maximums.

In addition to reducing parking requirements, the city has developed a toolkit of complementary development requirements to reduce automobile dependence, including unbundling parking costs from housing costs, bicycle parking requirements, and requiring car share spaces in large new developments.