Article Source:  City of San Bruno - CA

 
 BACKGROUND:
 October 14, 2025
 Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
 Alex D. McIntyre, City Manager
 Matthew Lee, P.E., Public Works Director
 Ana Morales, Management Analyst

Consider Adoption of a Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to  Negotiate and Execute the Five-Year General Services Agreement with  ParkMobile, LLC, for a Mobile Parking Payment Application in  Substantially the Form Attached, Subject to Any Revisions Approved by the City Attorney; and Determining the Project is Exempt Under the  California Environmental Quality Act

 In April 2024, the City of San Bruno (City) launched the Downtown Paid Parking Program
 (Program) in an effort to improve parking turnover, support local businesses, and better manage
curbside demand within the downtown core. The Program included the installation of 84 T2
Cosmo II multi-space pay stations (kiosks) and the designation of approximately 700 paid
parking spaces across both on-street areas and eight public parking lots downtown. As part of
the Program, the City entered into a contract with LAZ Parking California, LLC (LAZ Parking) to provide daily enforcement and operational support. Customers could pay using coins, credit
cards, or via the T2 MobilePay smartphone application.

At the November 12, 2024, Study Session, staff presented on the first six months of operational
data. While kiosk malfunctions, power issues, and vandalism impacted the rollout, those
technical problems had been resolved by late October 2024. Occupancy data showed the
program was meeting its goal, with occupancy rates hovering around 85%, and turnover
averaging 45–60 minutes on weekdays. Staff also reported strong adoption of credit card
payments (~85% of transactions), though mobile pay usage lagged (36%). To mitigate impacts
on businesses, the City issued discounted or free permits for downtown employees, while also
offering monthly permits at $30 per plate. At that time, staff identified possible programmatic
adjustments, including (but not limited to): refining paid parking intervals, exempting additional
holidays, re-evaluating Sunday enforcement, and seeking a better mobile payment platform.
 
At the January 14, 2025, City Council meeting, staff presented on several possible program
adjustments, including shorter paid intervals in off-street lots, exempting or reducing Sunday
hours, removing paid parking from El Camino Real, and expanding wayfinding signage. Staff
explained that while some of these options were feasible, others raised fiscal or operational
concerns—such as potential revenue loss, customer confusion, or high implementation costs.
Staff also revisited prior feedback regarding the T2 MobilePay app, noting that while it provided
a mobile payment option, it was less user-friendly than other third-party applications. In
response, staff began the process of designating a lead staff member to manage the project
and initiate evaluation of potential vendors, features, and associated costs. Lastly, a key
correction was also addressed at the January 14 meeting: the original list of recognized holidays
had inadvertently listed only three exempt days. This was an oversight by staff as the intention
was to include all City recognized holidays in the exempted list. As such, the holiday list was
expanded to include eight additional City-recognized legal holidays: Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Veterans Day, the Day after Thanksgiving,
and December 24.

At the April 29, 2025, Special Meeting, staff presented updates on: T2 and their responsiveness
to kiosk malfunctions; balancing enforcement in the downtown parking area; making kiosks
display FREE on all City holidays; analyzing the elimination of paid parking during certain hours
of the day and Sundays; syncing paid parking time limits at street parking kiosks and parking
lots; T2’s ability to reprogram kiosks to accept cash dollar bills; and analyzing elimination of paid
parking kiosks on El Camino Real. Staff reported that while the program had been successful in
improving parking turnover on San Mateo Avenue and directing longer-term parking into City
owned lots, it has faced persistent challenges with kiosk reliability. T2 committed to on-site
troubleshooting in April, but recurring malfunctions highlighted the need for daily technical
oversight. Staff recommended hiring a full-time master technician at a projected cost of $95,000
annually. Staff also recommended negotiating an extended warranty from T2 to ensure
machines reached reliable functionality. Enforcement efforts were also reviewed. The Police
Department and LAZ Parking adjusted citation patterns to reflect downtown conditions and
prioritize public complaints, with LAZ Parking found to be responsive and working under regular oversight from Police command staff. City Council’s January 2025 direction to make kiosks
display “FREE” on City holidays was noted; staff recommended decals on kiosks since the
machines could not pre-display holiday exemptions. Revenue impacts of eliminating paid
parking during certain hours or on Sundays were analyzed, with staff estimating a potential loss
of at least $283,000 annually in meter revenue and further reductions in citation revenue. To
offset this, staff recommended that if City Council chose to shorten paid hours, corresponding
rate increases would be required. Other updates included syncing time limits in lots with on
street spaces, where staff cautioned that adding shorter intervals in lots could require doubling
rates to maintain fiscal viability. Staff also confirmed kiosks could not be reprogrammed to
accept dollar bills and advised retaining kiosks on El Camino Real to preserve future flexibility,
despite their current low demand. Removal would cause an estimated $21,000 annual loss but
might reduce near-term maintenance burdens.
 
At the May 27, 2025, City Council meeting, staff returned with several recommendations shaped
by months of operational observation and feedback. City Council approved key actions
including: 1) the elimination of paid parking between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM for on-street
parking spaces. Public Works and LAZ Parking promptly implemented temporary signage to
reflect the change with permanent signage forthcoming later this year; 2) amending the LAZ
Parking agreement to fund a dedicated Meter Technician. Since implementation in August 2025,
this new role has significantly improved the program’s responsiveness. LAZ Parking staff has
reported a marked decline in unresolved alerts and system errors; 3) the adoption of an
ordinance replacing the Chief of Police with the City Manager or their designee for exercising
the authority granted in managing the Program; and 4) mobile parking payment application
solicitation authorization. City Council directed staff to proceed with issuing a Request for
Proposals (RFP) for a mobile parking payment application to evaluate competitive pricing,
vendor qualifications, and cost recovery models for a mobile parking app that could serve both
parking lot and street kiosks. Following this direction, staff issued the RFP for a Mobile Parking
Payment Application in June 2025. The RFP sought qualified vendors to provide a user-friendly,
 secure, and cost-neutral (or revenue-positive) mobile application that could integrate with the
 City’s existing T2 Systems backend and support real-time enforcement. The RFP emphasized
 features such as multilingual support, flexible rate structures, merchant processing
 transparency, and minimal capital cost requirements.

 Concurrently, at the June 24, 2025, City Council meeting, City Council directed staff to eliminate
 paid parking on El Camino Real and relatedly, removal of the 21 kiosks from the El Camino
 Real corridor. LAZ Parking removed and stored the kiosks in early July 2025 and the paid
 parking signs were removed by Public Works in July 2025. Secondly, City Council introduced a
 rate structure adjustment for off-street parking; namely, a $0.50 flat rate for coin payments and
 pass-through of credit card processing fees for digital payments. These changes were
 implemented in August 2025.

 These programmatic changes occurred as the City advanced on its solicitation for a new mobile
 parking payment application. In response to the July 2025 RFP deadline, the City received five
 proposals, which were carefully reviewed by a multi-departmental evaluation committee.
 Proposals were scored on technical functionality, cost structure, customer support,
 implementation readiness, and demonstrated experience in comparable Bay Area cities.

 Following a thorough evaluation, and subsequent negotiations in September 2025 that secured
 a highly competitive user transaction fee, staff recommends that the City Council authorize the
 City Manager to execute an agreement with ParkMobile, LLC (ParkMobile), the top-ranked
 proposer.

 DISCUSSION:

 The City received five proposals from the following vendors in response to its Mobile Parking
 Payment Application RFP (listed alphabetically):
 1) HotSpot Parking USA Inc.
 2) ParkMobile
 3) Passport Labs, Inc.
 4) PayByPhone US Inc.
 5) YCurb Inc.

 Contractor Selection

 After a thorough multi-departmental review process conducted by Public Works, the Police
 Department, IT, and City Manager staff, each proposal was scored based on criteria outlined in
 the RFP, including cost estimate, proposed work plan and approach, and qualifications and
 experience, among other criteria. ParkMobile emerged as the top-ranked proposer based on
 their ability to meet all requirements of the RFP in addition to other benefits, including (but not
 limited to):
  Proven, User-Friendly App: Widely adopted across the Bay Area with a highly rated
 mobile app that includes features like expiration reminders and session extensions.
  No-Cost to City: Operates on a user-paid transaction model with no upfront or ongoing
 cost to the City.
  Fast Implementation and Outreach Support: Provides a rapid deployment timeline with
 co-branded signage, marketing materials, and a 1-minute instructional video.
  Enforcement-Ready and Scalable: Fully integrates with T2 for real-time license plate
 lookups and supports future upgrades like digital permits and automatic number-plate
 recognition.
  Real-Time Analytics: Includes an easy-to-use dashboard for tracking usage, revenue,
 and trends to inform policy decisions.
  Offered the most competitive per-transaction fee among all proposers—further reduced
 through negotiations.

 ParkMobile has been successfully deployed in several surrounding Bay Area cities, including
 neighboring city South San Francisco, in addition to Berkeley, San Rafael, Vallejo, Walnut
 Creek, and will soon be rolled out in parts of San Francisco.

 To further validate ParkMobile, staff conducted a reference check with another Bay Area city
 that has used the application successfully for its parking program. Staff there reported that
 ParkMobile is reliable, user-friendly, integrates well with enforcement systems, and comes with
 strong customer service and marketing support. They noted few user complaints, responsive
 vendor assistance, and a positive ongoing partnership. Overall, the city recommended
 ParkMobile, citing its dependable technology and effective collaboration with municipal staff.
 Cost Comparison & Regional Benchmarking

 To ensure that the City had one of the lowest transaction fees among the other local cities in
 which ParkMobile operates, staff negotiated a user-paid convenience fee of $0.30 per
 transaction, which places San Bruno among the lowest compared to other local cities:





 The City intends to enter into an agreement with ParkMobile as the selected vendor for mobile
payment services.

 Merchant of Record

 With this agreement, ParkMobile will serve as the Merchant of Record, with a payment
processing fee of 3% + $0.15 per transaction. Therefore, based on the City’s current hourly on
street parking rate of $1.50, a one-hour parking session will break down as follows:

 Motorist pays
 Net to City
 $1.80
 = $1.50 + $0.30 transaction fee
 $1.30
 after 3% + $0.15 payment processing
 fee =
 $1.80 * 3% = $0.054
 $0.05 + $0.15 = $0.20
 $1.50 - $0.20 = $1.30

 Program administration, including the new ParkMobile app, will continue to be overseen by the
Public Works Department, and enforcement will continue to be provided by the City’s Police
Department.

 FISCAL IMPACT:

There is no direct capital expenditure associated with this agreement or the implementation of
ParkMobile within the City. The mobile phone application will be funded through user
transaction and payment processing fees, as described above.

Looking ahead, a one-year projection for the implementation of ParkMobile for the Downtown
Paid Parking Program is based on the past 12 months of revenue data, in which the City
processed approximately 339,000 credit card transactions, which generated $499,766 in net
parking revenue after credit card processing fees were deducted.

Using a conservative assumption of 50% adoption of ParkMobile in the first year, net revenue is
projected at $497,709—a difference of just $2,057 less than the current model, or less than
0.5% of total revenue. While ParkMobile’s fees makes very small payments slightly more costly,
it is relatively less expensive for higher-value transactions, resulting in a negligible overall fiscal
impact.

Importantly, ParkMobile typically achieves about 50% adoption in its first year, with a goal of
reaching 70% or higher as customers become familiar with the platform. Staff believes that any
minimal revenue difference is more than offset by customer service improvements, including a
more intuitive app, reminder notifications for expiring sessions, and widespread regional
adoption that can increase compliance and reduce citations.

Updated permanent signage will be included as part of the ParkMobile roll-out to ensure
motorists are aware of the new payment option. Funding for these signage costs was previously
authorized by City Council on May 27, 2025, through a resolution that transferred and
appropriated salary savings from the Streets budget into the Parking Fund.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:

The action is not a project subject to CEQA. City Council’s action is not considered a “project”
per CEQA Guidelines and therefore no further environmental analysis is required.

RECOMMENDATION:
 
Adopt a Resolution:
  Authorizing the City Manager to Negotiate and Execute the Five-Year General Services
 Agreement with ParkMobile, LLC, for a Mobile Parking Payment Application in Substantially
 the Form Attached, Subject to Any Revisions Approved by the City Attorney; and
  Determining the Project is Exempt Under the California Environmental Quality Act

ALTERNATIVES:
 1. Do not enter into an agreement with ParkMobile and engage in negotiations with the second
ranked proposer.
 2. Re-release the Mobile Phone Payment Parking RFP and seek new proposals.
 3. Do not proceed with a mobile phone payment parking application for the Downtown Paid
 Parking Program.