Attachment A
Parking Compliance Unit Service Delivery Overview
Safety & Illegal Parking Enforcement
Citywide enforcement of safety and illegal parking violations is spread across six specialized teams, budgeted at staff 33.5 FTE PTCOs. The majority of these teams operate under a proactive patrol model, primarily issuing citations. During FY 2024- 2025, these teams issued 217,720 citations across their respective service areas.
Proactive Citywide Parking Enforcement
The largest service delivery team, comprising 13 FTE PTCOs, is responsible for the systematic, proactive patrol of all city streets, with the goal of visiting each street approximately once every 14 days. During these patrols, officers address a wide range of parking violations, including but not limited to red-curb, bike-lane, crosswalk, and curb-ramp obstructions. They also monitor and address illegal parking activity in school zones and enforce posted street sweeping restrictions across approximately 546 miles of roadway citywide.
To maintain operational efficiency, this team focuses exclusively on proactive enforcement and does not respond to customer complaints or San José 311 service requests. In FY 2024–2025, this team issued more than 105,000 citations and conducted 273 school visits.
Evening & Overnight Parking Enforcement
Operating under a similar proactive patrol model, the Evening & Overnight Enforcement Team patrols citywide during nighttime and early morning hours to enforce general parking regulations, street sweeping and No Overnight Parking (10 p.m.–6 a.m.) zones.
This group of six FTE PTCOs issued nearly 24,000 citations during FY 2024–2025.
Downtown & Meter District Parking Enforcement
A team of 8.5 FTE PTCOs made up of both full- and part-time officers is responsible for the enforcement of parking regulations across the greater downtown area as well as enforcement during paid meter hours (Monday-Saturday 9 a.m. –6 p.m.). This team focuses on encouraging parking turnover within the downtown core, Japantown, and Old Civic Center through the enforcement of parking metered zones, freight loading zones, city-operated parking lots/garages and general illegal parking like bike lanes, red curbs, and no parking areas. This team issued nearly 60,000 citations in FY 2024-2025.
Residential Parking Permit (RPP) Enforcement
A two-person team is responsible for enforcing parking restrictions within the city’s 22 Residential Parking Permit (RPP) areas, which vary in size and days/hours of Attachment A
enforcement. In 2022, the city’s RPP program transitioned to a virtual, license platebased system that uses the aid of automated license plate recognition (ALPR) technology to aid PTCOs with enforcement. Approximately 11,000 permits are currently active across these zones, and in FY 2024–2025, this team issued nearly 16,000 citations.
Request for Service / Event / Construction Tow Support
A team of two PTCOs responds to public requests for service related to blocked driveways received through the police department non-emergency line and dispatched by SJPD . Additionally, this team is responsible for the verification of temporary towaway signage for construction or special events. In FY 2024–2025, this team responded to over 2,000 requests for service and conducted over 700 sign verifications.
Time Limited Parking Enforcement
Time-limited parking areas outside the downtown core were, until recently, patrolled by a two-officer team using ALPR systems. Their enforcement process required multiple passes—first to inventory parked vehicles and then to identify violators exceeding posted time limits. During FY 2024–2025, the team issued just over 1,500 citations.
As outlined in FY 2025–2026 Manager’s Budget Addendum #4, due to low citation volume and shifting operational priorities, these two FTE positions were reassigned to the Expired Registration Enforcement Program. Consequently, enforcement of timelimited parking outside the downtown core was discontinued effective July 1, 2025.
San José 311 - Illegal Parking Service Requests
Although not an on-demand service, the illegal parking reporting feature was introduced with the San José 311 Vehicle Concerns redesign in March 2024. This program enables residents to report violations such as vehicles parked in no-parking zones, red curbs, near fire hydrants, or obstructing bike lanes and crosswalks.
While DOT is not currently resourced to provide real-time responses to individual reports of illegal parking, submitted data is aggregated and analyzed to inform patrol deployment strategies. In FY 2024–2025, DOT received 7,781 illegal parking reports.
Staff continues to evaluate these reports regularly to identify trends and adjust proactive safety patrols to address emerging hotspots.
Vehicle Abatement & Tow Enforcement
Fifteen FTE PTCOs were assigned to the Vehicle Abatement and Tow Enforcement teams, which operated across five work units that proactively patrol the city and respond to San José 311 Vehicle Concerns reports submitted by the public. These teams are responsible for identifying and investigating suspected abandoned vehicles, responding Attachment A
to San José 311 service requests under the Vehicle Abatement and Extended Parking Stay (EPS) programs, and leading the Oversized and Lived-In Vehicle Enforcement (OLIVE) program launched in January 2024.
Proactive & Hot Spot Vehicle Abatement
A team of seven FTE PTCOs conducted systematic, proactive patrols citywide to identify vehicles that met specific conditional criteria that indicate a likelihood that they are abandoned or inoperable, such as those with broken windows, missing tires, deployed airbags, or other visible safety deficiencies. Once identified, these vehicles are issued warning notices advising owners that their vehicle may be cited or towed.
Vehicles deemed inoperable per the California Vehicle Code are towed immediately.
Like the proactive safety patrol team, this group aims to patrol every city street approximately once every 14 days. During FY 2024–2025, the team self-initiated nearly 7,500 cases, issued approximately 2,000 citations, and towed nearly 1,800 vehicles—a 24% tow rate.
San José 311 Vehicle Abatement
Between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025, approximately 82% of all San José 311 Vehicle Concern public service requests were routed to the PCU. Nearly 40,000 public service requests were received in FY 2024-2025 across all DOT San José 311 programs, with nearly 4,500 cases routed to the Vehicle Abatement service delivery, with conditions reported such as missing or shattered windows, on jacks or blocks, missing wheels or tires, and inoperable vehicles (as defined by the California Vehicle Code).
This program is managed by one PTCO and supported by two contract staff who conduct initial field verifications and route eligible cases for follow-up enforcement.
During FY 2024–2025, the team towed approximately 600 vehicles, resulting in a 13% tow rate.
DOT Pavement Maintenance Support
DOT’s Pavement Maintenance Program funds four FTE PTCO positions whose primary role is to support temporary tow away zones meant to clear parked vehicles from streets before they are paved. This team’s efforts include significant neighborhood outreach and door knocking prior to and during the enforcement period to inform residents and businesses of the pavement projects and temporary tow-away zones. This team towed nearly 250 vehicles in FY 2024-2025.
San José 311 Extended Parking Stay Enforcement (EPS)
Attachment A
In August 2023, DOT expanded the EPS Pilot Program to investigate nuisance vehicles and those reported as being stored on public streets for extended periods (10 days or more) but not meeting the criteria for the Abandoned Vehicle Program. This initiative was designed to address prolonged vehicle storage concerns citywide. As part of the FY 2025–2026 budget process, the EPS program was discontinued to reallocate staff toward the enforcement of expired vehicle registration. The information below provides context for that budget decision and concludes the reporting of EPS program data.
The EPS Pilot Program was staffed with three full-time contract employees and one fulltime PTCO, a level of staffing intended to support approximately 10,000 vehicle investigations annually. However, the program experienced significantly higher demand, receiving 20,063 service requests in FY 2024–2025, more than double its planned capacity. This surge in workload extended turnaround times, with 25% of cases taking longer than 21 days to resolve. EPS investigations resulted in 1,090 parking citations and 46 vehicle tows, a tow rate of approximately .23% (less than 1%), indicating that most vehicle owners either moved their vehicles voluntarily or responded after receiving warning notices or citations.
The combination of lengthy response times and a low tow rate did not align with customer expectations and contributed to lower satisfaction scores, with only 29% of respondents rating the service as “Good” or “Very Good.” These results, along with operational feedback, were key factors in the decision to propose the reassignment of the one FTE EPS staff to higher-priority enforcement programs such as Expired Registration.