SFMTA approves two-vendor mobile parking contracts; convenience-fee increase to be considered June 3

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board on Wednesday voted to approve two four‑year contracts — one with Arcadis US Inc. (Hotspot app) and one with ParkMobile LLC — to provide mobile parking payment services in a multi‑vendor environment, subject to resolution of a timely contract protest.

Staff told the board the new contracts are intended to create redundancy, foster competition between apps and reflect the growing share of meter transactions completed by mobile payment. “Looking to fiscal year ’19, payments made by mobile payment app were 17% of the transactions at our meters, whereas in the most recent fiscal year, that has increased to 36%,” Rob Malone, senior manager for parking, told the board.

Contract and fee details: Each contract has a maximum not‑to‑exceed value of $8,370,000 and a four‑year base term with optional extensions, for a combined planning value of about $16.7 million. Staff said neither vendor is guaranteed a fixed share of transactions; adoption among users should determine actual usage. The contracts assume a vendor service fee of $0.35 per transaction; staff proposed that the Board consider matching a customer convenience fee of $0.35 to the vendor fee. The convenience‑fee increase — from the 10¢ interim fee in place today to 35¢ — will be formally before the Board on June 3.

Protest and timing: PayByPhone, the incumbent vendor, filed a protest against the procurement. Staff recommended approval subject to the final resolution of any timely protest. Malone also told the Board that staff is seeking a short extension of the incumbent contract so there will be no interruption in service during the transition and contract protest resolution.

Why it matters: App-based payment accounts for a steadily growing share of parking transactions. Board members and the public raised equity and customer-cost questions during the meeting: several speakers urged caution about passing convenience costs to users, and board members asked staff to analyze alternative fee structures and potential customer protections.

Public comment: Members of the public who use mobile payments expressed support for multiple app options, while also warning that convenience fees are becoming widespread in other sectors. “I support new mobile apps for parking,” said public commenter Alita Dupree. “I am concerned about the trend of convenience fees that I'm seeing in various spaces.”

Board action: The roll-call vote approved the contracts as amended to be contingent on protest resolution; Secretary Silva recorded aye votes from Director Chen, Director Felder, Director Hemminger, Director Henderson, Director Hinsley, Director Kahina and Chair Tarlow.

Next steps: Staff will (1) address the procurement protest, (2) complete the technical transition plan with the new vendors and (3) bring the proposed 35¢ convenience‑fee change to the Board on June 3 for formal action. Staff also said it will explore wallet and other product options that could reduce transaction costs for frequent users over time.

Ending: If approved on June 3, the convenience fee change will align the customer charge with the vendors’ transaction fee and will be implemented as part of the multi‑vendor rollout. The Board approved the underlying contracts today but conditioned execution on resolution of the vendor protest.