San Francisco · street cleaning

Street cleaning in Chinatown, SF

Schedules here are set block by block. Tap any block on the map for its exact posted day, time, and next sweep, then set a free reminder. Below: what the public ticket record shows about Chinatown.

Open the map → The ticket economy →
By the numbers · last ~2 years

Chinatown in tickets

9,053
Street-cleaning tickets
$930k
In fines assessed
~2am
Most common ticket time
#31
of 36 hoods by volume
+42%
vs 5 years ago

The street-cleaning fine is $105 (2026). In Chinatown, most tickets are written on Saturday nights around 2am.

What parking is like

Parking in Chinatown

Of Chinatown's mapped curb, about 81% is general street parking, 5% residential-permit (RPP), and 12% loading zones. (Share of curb in SFMTA's Digital Curb data. The posted sign on your block always wins.)

Off-street parking nearby
  • 733 Kearny Street · Garage600 spaces · $3/hr
  • 750 KEARNY ST · Garage500 spaces · $4/hr
  • 475 SANSOME ST · Garage210 spaces · $9/hr
  • 600 CALIFORNIA ST · Garage197 spaces · $12/hr

No street spot? Rates are operator-supplied. Confirm on arrival.

The live map

Chinatown parking, live

Every curb in Chinatown, colored by its next street sweep. Tap a block for its posted schedule, meters, permit zone, and a free move-your-car reminder.

Every swept block · 166 in Chinatown

Street cleaning, block by block

Every swept street in Chinatown. Open one for its blocks, then a block for its posted days and times, the next sweep dates and when tickets actually land.

Battery St 3 blocks
Beckett St 1 block
Broadway 6 blocks
California St 3 blocks
Clay St 13 blocks
Columbus Ave 11 blocks
Commercial St 4 blocks
Gold St 2 blocks
Grant Ave 8 blocks
Green St 1 block
Jackson St 25 blocks
John St 1 block
Kearny St 8 blocks
Leidesdorff St 2 blocks
Merchant St 2 blocks
Montgomery St 7 blocks
Pacific Ave 12 blocks
Powell St 4 blocks
Sacramento St 10 blocks
Sansome St 7 blocks
Stockton St 10 blocks
Union St 1 block
Vallejo St 6 blocks
Walter U Lum Pl 1 block
Washington St 15 blocks
Waverly Pl 2 blocks
Wentworth Pl 1 block
When tickets happen in Chinatown

By day & hour

Enforcement clusters at predictable times, not at random. These are the days and hours when Chinatown street-cleaning tickets are actually written. Your block's posted window is what counts, but the pattern shows when to be careful.

By day of week
By hour of day
Heaviest-ticketed streets

Where tickets cluster

The Chinatown streets with the most street-cleaning citations over ~2 years. High counts usually mean a busy corridor with frequent sweeping. Check the exact block on the map.

  • PACIFIC1,375 tickets
  • JACKSON1,071 tickets
  • KEARNY768 tickets
  • BROADWAY733 tickets
  • COLUMBUS720 tickets
  • WASHINGTON718 tickets
How enforcement works

The 2-hour sign, the 20-minute reality

San Francisco posts a street-cleaning window, often two hours, but the ticket doesn't wait. Across about 1.35 million GPS-located citations (over a million matched to blocks), the typical SF block gets most of its tickets inside the same ~20 minutes, usually right after the window opens. In Chinatown, that cluster lands around 2am on Saturday nights.

Once the sweeper has physically passed your side of the street, SFMTA's own rules let you re-park there, even before the posted hours end. But don't park early assuming it's done, and being even a minute off is still ticketable.

Good to know: a residential parking permit (RPP) runs $224/yr; meters are free on Sundays and three holidays; and a car can't sit in one spot more than 72 hours, even with a permit. The posted sign is always the final word.

FAQ

Street cleaning in Chinatown, answered

When is street cleaning in Chinatown?

Street-cleaning schedules in Chinatown are set block by block: each side of each street has its own day and time, so there's no single neighborhood-wide schedule. Open Chinatown on the CURB map to see the exact posted schedule and next sweep for any block. In practice, most Chinatown street-cleaning tickets are written on Saturday nights, clustered around 2am.

How much is a street-cleaning ticket in San Francisco?

As of 2026 the street-cleaning fine is $105 citywide (many older sites still list $73 to $97; those are out of date). Over the last ~2 years, Chinatown drivers were issued 9,053 street-cleaning tickets totaling about $930k in fines.

How do I avoid a street-cleaning ticket in Chinatown?

Move your car before the posted window: most tickets here are written around 2am on Saturday nights. CURB lets you tap your block, see the next sweep, and set a free reminder (calendar or push) ~30 minutes before, plus the night before. The posted sign always wins if it differs.

Can I park after the street sweeper passes in Chinatown?

Yes. Under SFMTA's rules, once the sweeper has physically swept your side of the street you can re-park there, even if the posted hours haven't ended. But you can't park during the posted window just because it looks done early, and being even a minute off is ticketable. On most Chinatown blocks the sweep clusters around 2am on Saturday nights. Check your exact block on the map.

Is street cleaning enforced on holidays?

Regular street sweeping stops on every city holiday SFMTA lists, about a dozen a year (for example Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas), overnight routes included. About 590 blocks post a holiday schedule on their sign, like HOLIDAYS 4 TO 6AM, and are swept at those hours on those days, except on New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, when nothing is swept. Temporary signs and the posted schedule always override. When in doubt, read the sign on your block.

What if my car was towed for street cleaning in Chinatown?

SF street-cleaning tows go to AutoReturn at 450 7th Street (open 24/7). Call (415) 865-8200 or check autoreturn.com to find your car. Expect a tow fee plus daily storage on top of the $105 ticket; a discounted low-income rate is available. Note: SF's "Text Before Tow" alerts do not cover street-cleaning tows.

How do I contest a street-cleaning ticket?

File a protest within 21 days of the citation through the SFMTA citation portal, ideally with a photo from where you parked showing a missing, faded, or blocked sign, or that you were ticketed outside the posted window. A meaningful share of first-level protests are dismissed, so it's often worth contesting if your sign was unclear.

Nearby

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