Another local law that was temporarily tossed out during COVID went back into effect Monday, and your car could now again be towed if parked in restricted peak-hour areas.

Maybe you have a sign on your street that says “No Stopping 3 p.m. - 7 p.m.,” or “No Stopping 7 a.m. - 9 a.m.,” or something that threatens to tow your car during a weekday time that can be construed as Rush Hour. And maybe you’ve been ignoring that sign for the last year and a half, because like many parking laws during COVID-19, the city has been just flat-out not enforcing the laws.

But another law went back into effect Monday, and as SFMTA explains, they are towing cars parked in restricted peak-hours parking zones again.  

“We’re bringing back the enforcement of peak hour tow-away zones under the SFMTA Transportation Recovery Plan (TRP) as the economy reopens,” the SFMTA says in their announcement. “Tows help the SFMTA facilitate the flow and safety of transit and traffic, support economic activity and maintain safe streets.”

There are some exceptions, like in the cases of streets with several parklets, which render that not useful as a traffic lane. “The reinstated tow-away enforcement will accommodate changing conditions on city streets,” according to the transit system. “For example, enforcement will not apply to Shared Spaces that allow merchants to use sidewalks, full or partial streets and other nearby outdoor spaces under San Francisco’s Public Health Orders.”

And all the other towing laws are still in effect. You can still get towed for violating the 72-hour overtime parking limit. If your tags are more than six months past their expiration, you can be towed then too. And the so-called “poverty tow” practice, where five or more delinquent parking citations means you’re getting towed, has been reinstituted — though SFMTA did change the threshold from three delinquent citations to five.

Related: SF Street Sweeping Tickets Set to Resume on June 15 [SFist]
Image: SFMTA.com