San Francisco

SFMTA Owes $6 Million to Drivers for Overpaid Parking Tickets

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency wants to reimburse drivers who overpaid on more than 200,000 parking tickets issued between 1995 and 2012.

Calling all Bay Area parking scofflaws: the SFMTA might owe you money — more than $6 million worth.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency wants to reimburse drivers who overpaid on more than 200,000 parking tickets issued between 1995 and 2012.

The SFMTA posted an alphabetical list online of all the people and companies who can get reimbursed for tickets paid in error long ago. The overpayments range from $15 to more than $2,210.

On the list are some famous Californians, including Gov. Jerry Brown ($33), Attorney General Kamala Harris ($60), the late Steve Jobs ($174) and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick ($510)

SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose says his agency tried to reach out to people in 2004.

"We never heard back from them. Or the contact information we had was wrong, or they never responded," he said. "We have to try at least."

Apparently, their contract information for Edmund G. Brown, Jr., also known as Gov. Jerry Brown, was out of date. His office told NPR that the governor will be collecting the $33 he's owed.

If those on the list don't claim what they're owed by March 3, the money goes into the agency's operating budget.

"This is their money and they're due a refund if they want it," Rose said.

The overpayments are a small fraction of the 1.5 million tickets written by San Francisco meter maids per year.

Rose says the number of parking citations issued has gone down because of new ways to feed the meter, like credit cards, paying by phone, and parking cards.

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