Public tennis courts in SF have no reservation system — you show up at 7am Saturday and wait 45 minutes for a court

You want to play tennis on Saturday morning at Golden Gate Park. There are 21 courts. There is no reservation system — it is first-come, first-served. You arrive at 7:30am. All 21 courts are occupied. Groups waiting: 8. Each match runs 60-90 minutes. You wait 45 minutes. You did not know that courts 15-21 are less popular because they are farther from the parking lot — if you had walked 3 extra minutes, you could have played immediately. There is no app, no status board, no waitlist. You stand and watch. So what? SF Recreation and Parks operates 150+ public tennis courts across the city. None have real-time availability data. The only way to know if a court is free is to physically go there. This wastes an estimated 20-40 minutes per player per visit. With 50,000+ recreational tennis players in SF, that is millions of hours wasted annually standing at courts that are full when empty courts exist 10 minutes away. Private clubs ($200-500/month) have reservation systems. Public courts serve 10x more players but have zero technology. Why does this persist? SF Rec & Parks has no budget for court technology. Installing a reservation system would require sensors/cameras to verify occupancy, a booking platform, and enforcement for no-shows. The department operates on a $200M budget spread across hundreds of facilities. Tennis courts generate zero revenue (they are free) so they receive zero technology investment. Meanwhile, private clubs charge $200+/month partly for the privilege of booking a court online.