We’re so close to having a new Biking and Rolling Plan

Last Tuesday, the SFMTA Board of Directors heard an informational item from the Biking and Rolling Plan team, who were presenting updates to the Plan ahead of the Feb. 18 hearing at which the Board will consider and vote on final approval. Staff and community partners presented on the Community Action Plans and on updates to the draft Plan including proposed projects and decision-making processes for selecting projects.

Your SF Bicycle Coalition showed up in force to demand that the Board direct staff to strengthen the plan in the following key ways:

  • Prioritize Slow School Zones around City elementary schools in the first five years of the plan
  • Build a base grid of convenient cross-town routes that meet NACTO’s All Ages and Abilities guidelines within five years
  • More clearly articulate in the Plan how “community readiness” is defined

More than a dozen members and fellow advocates gave public comment, speaking to their experiences as people who bike and roll and who deserve the most robust, ambitious possible Plan – not just for our safety, but for the city’s own climate and transportation goals to be met in the next 15 years. 

We were heartened to hear some of the Directors questioning why the current draft Plan does not go far enough to meet the needs of the next two decades. Director Dominica Henderson stated that community readiness cannot create 5 to 15 year delays or too-slow processes while the lives of vulnerable road users are jeopardized. Director Mike Chen directed SFMTA to commit to a two-year prioritization for Slow School Zones — one of our key priorities. 

While we appreciated direction from the Board and we know that SFMTA staff sorely need their support and leadership in this time of fiscal crisis for the agency, we remain concerned by the version of the Biking and Rolling Plan that we expect will come back for final approval in February – the lack of timelines and goals strips the plan of accountability, and saps it of urgency that can focus the will of the agency and city leaders. 

We also know what we’re up against. Opponents of safe and accessible biking and rolling were organized and showed up with supporters. They used a familiar playbook, trying to discredit biking as a valid form of transportation, claiming that only young, fit newcomers bike, and even stating that no families with children would ever bike together. They also suggested, dangerously and untruthfully, that even our current modest progress towards safe biking and rolling has spurred the agency’s financial crisis. We must continue to show up in meetings and other public forums to counter such misinformation. 

We will continue to press the agency and organize our fellow advocates, understanding that passage of the Plan as merely the first step in our fight towards the strongest, safest and most ambitious possible biking and rolling network for San Francisco. As we’ve demanded, and SFMTA staff has begun to echo, this Plan represents the floor, not the ceiling, of what city and agency leadership must deliver. 

If you haven’t yet, please sign the SF CYCLES petition. In these last crucial few weeks, we will share the petition with agency leadership and elected officials, demanding momentum for rapid implementation of the Biking and Rolling Plan. 

Sign the Petition

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