I owe San Francisco over $30,000 in parking tickets - here's how I racked up the huge fines

A California man must pay the price after racking in 183 parking tickets.

William Edward Andrews, 36, must now pay the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) more than $30,000 in fines.

According to The San Francisco Standard, Andrews is one of the city's most notorious offenders when it comes to amassing parking ticket debt with the SFMTA.

He told The San Francisco Standard that he first started accumulating parking tickets when he used to work as a night security guard.

Andrews would park his car during the day and be ticketed by police officers while he was sleeping.

William Edward Andrews, 36, must pay the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) more than $30,000 in fines

According to The San Francisco Standard , Andrews is one of the city's most notorious offenders when it comes to racking up parking ticket fines with the SFMTA 

He told The San Francisco Standard that he first started racking up parking tickets when he used to work as a night security guard 

'Knowing that you owe that much money, there’s nothing you can do but try to pay it back the best you can,' he said.

'You can try to do what you can and get rid of the debt. Or bite the bullet and get rid of your car. I need my car.'

According to the SFMTA, there are a variety of parking rules that a driver must follow in order to legally park in San Francisco.

The rules prohibit leaving a car parked on one street spot for more than 72 hours and as well as blocking driveways or crosswalks.

Andrews did not clarify how he got every one of his parking tickets over the last five years.

However, the unlucky driver revealed to The San Francisco Standard that by 2019, he had about $5,000 in fines.

When Andrews got a new job as a bus driver for disabled residents, he thought that would help him.

His employer allegedly has contracts with the city, which Andrews thought would help him.

Parking rules in San Francisco prohibit leaving a car parked on one street spot for more than 72 hours and as well as blocking driveways or crosswalks

'It's a city. You can't just completely ignore the parking rules,' said SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumlin.

Coalition on Homelessness employee Jennifer Friedenbach added: 'This is important for working-class and impoverished people that are disproportionately punished.'

Andrews, who was briefly homeless in 2018, has continued to make little headway in paying his parking ticket fines. 

It also didn't help that his address in The Tenderloin area isn't covered by the city's Residential Parking Permit Program. 

This program allows drivers to park their cars for a longer period time if they live at a residence nearby.

Even if his street was part of this program, he would not be qualified to benefit from it until he paid off his entire fine.

Andrews revealed to The San Francisco Standard that by 2019, he had about $5,000 in fines while he was working as a night security guard

Andrews is also not able to qualify for a low-income SFMTA payment plan, which would require him to pay off over $500 in fines within 16 weeks.

Individuals who have five or more parking citations can enroll in this payment plan but the enrollee must have a gross annual income of $30,120 or below. 

According to Andrews, he will not be able to qualify for the plan because of his current job.

Another payment offered by the SFMTA involves a one-time write-off of all fines, but that is only if the driver is homeless. 

There is one program that Andrews qualifies for that could help him to start paying off his parking ticket fines.

Andrews is allowed to participate in a community service program that is offered by the SFMTA.

Their program offers individuals the option to perform community service in San Francisco after they receive a parking ticket.

According to the SFMTA's Community Service Program guidelines, customers can enroll in 'a maximum of two plans and a maximum of $1,000 in fines and penalties per calendar year.'

If Andrews were to participate, he would earn $20 per hour of completed community service work, which would go towards his fines.

However, because of his fines and the guidelines, Andrews will finish paying off these fines by the time he is nearly 70 years old.