Saris Bicycle Parking Solutions

Posted on by Anna Gore

Finding a safe, secure place to park your bike can be a struggle in San Francisco. For many people, access to secure bike parking can determine whether or not they decide to ride a bike at all. If you’re looking for ways to encourage or support ridership to your business or workplace, our preferred bicycle parking vendors are here to help.

This month we caught up with Saris to find out more about the indoor and outdoor bike parking racks as well as the bike repair solutions available to residences and businesses.

Saris Circle Docks in a Bike Corral configuration along a San Francisco Street.

On just about any SF Street near you

  • Location: All over town
  • Description: If you’ve parked your bike at an outdoor bike rack in San Francisco, you’ve likely used one of Saris’ ubiquitous Circle Docks. This is the City’s standard for public bike racks, installed in thousands of locations all around town. Saris’ Circle Docks are made of hardy galvanized finish and stout square tubing, designed to resist both natural and human elements to provide secure, easy-to-use place to lock your bike. Did you know that anyone can request one of these bike racks for any San Francisco location free of charge? Request a rack today!

 

Inside the bike room at WIRED Magazine’s S.F. offices.

Location: WIRED Magazine’s office in SF

Description: In collaboration with Gensler Architecture’s San Francisco office, Saris outfitted WIRED Magazine’s bike storage. Limited on space, Saris’ layout specialists transformed a hallway with wall-mounted, vertical Bike Tracs. Now it’s just a matter of breaking the employee’s bad habits of their pre-bike parking days…

 

A Bike Fixation Public Work Stand in use outside the San Francisco Exploratorium.

Location: SF Exploratorium

Description: Need a quick repair while biking down the Embarcadero? Visit the Saris public workstation outside the Exploratorium! Earlier this year, Saris acquired Minneapolis-based manufacturer of bike infrastructure Bike Fixation. Bike Fixation has been a global leader of public bike self-service products. With Bike Fixation, Saris’ catalog now includes products such as repair stands and air pumps, bike washing products and even vending machines for bicycle components and accessories.

Looking to improve bicycle parking at your workplace? Saris provides both indoor and outdoor bike parking racks as well as other bike repair and infrastructure products. Saris has a team of full-time layout specialists who can assist with design, provide technical documents and assist in navigating LEED requirements for bicycle facilities.

Interested in a quote or consultation? Email Anna at anna@sfbike.org for more information and a connection to a local Saris representative.

Huge thanks to Saris for their support of bicycle advocacy both locally and nationally!

Folsom and Howard: Near-Term Solutions

Posted on by Charles Deffarges

Long-term visions help guide the future of SoMa, but near-term solutions are urgently needed now for Folsom and Howard streets. While the long-term Folsom and Howard Streetscape Project brings exciting designs for protected bike lanes, our members have pushed and won commitments for near-term improvements. Now it’s time to hold the City to their commitment.

Next week, we’ll have an opportunity to take a look at what near-term improvements are in store for Folsom and Howard at two special open houses hosted by the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). The goal here is to make Folsom and Howard safe for all users with improvements in the ground by the end of the year.

Folsom-Howard Open House #1
Thursday, July 13 from 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Gene Friend Rec Center, 270 6th Street

Folsom-Howard Open House #2
Saturday, July 15 from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Gene Friend Rec Center, 270 6th Street

RSVP

Through you, our members, we know the experience of biking in SoMa is filled with passengers unloading in bike lanes and speeding drivers on four-lane streets. Both Folsom and Howard are on our high injury network and you’ve made it clear that the streets need changes independent of the larger streetscape project.

At these two open houses, the SFMTA will present near-term designs for Folsom and Howard, including parking-protected bike lanes, loading zone improvements and transit boarding islands. Our calls for safe streets now have led to this quick action by the City. Now let’s let them know that we want to see these improvements in by the end of the year.

Bike Shops Bring a Boost to Our Advocacy This Summer

Posted on by Anna Gore

As people who bike in San Francisco we’re spoiled by the number of incredible bike shops within our city limits. In just about every neighborhood there’s a great shop ready to support you in any and all your bicycling endeavors.

This summer a number of those shops are working to boost our advocacy. As part of the Bike Shop Challenge, they’re competing to see who can recruit the most new and renewing members to the SF Bicycle Coalition this July. The best part? Everyone’s a winner.

Your prize: Join or renew your membership at a participating bike shop and you could win two free tickets to Tour de Fat.

The prize for the shop: The top membership-recruiting shop will be the official bike shop at Tour de Fat. Whether they win or not, each participating shop will win recognition and swag for their employees.

The prize to our city: Better bicycling conditions for you and those you love. Each and every member of the SF Bicycle Coalition strengthens our voice as we advocate for visionary bicycle infrastructure in the places that need them most.

Bike Shop Challenge Contenders:

If you’ve been thinking of becoming a member of the SF Bicycle Coalition, or it’s time for you to renew, July is a great time to do it. Stop by any one of these shops and ask to purchase a membership to the SF Bicycle Coalition. For just $35 you’ll support your local bike shop, enjoy all kinds of member benefits (including a discount at the bike shop!) and be entered into a raffle for two tickets to Tour de Fat. Better yet, you’ll be part of our community of 10,000-plus members who are working to transform our streets and our city into a safe, more livable place.

HUGE thanks to all the shops participating in this year’s Bike Shop Challenge. Our work wouldn’t be possible without you!

This Just In: The Family Biking Mini Guide

Posted on by San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
By Michaela Tait Morrison

 

The SF Bicycle Coalition is proud to roll out our new easy-to-read Family Biking Mini Guide.  The very popular original Family Biking Guide provides well explained strategies to help parents understand what biking as a family will be like. In response to feedback from parents at our family biking events, the new Mini Guide is simplified and condensed for on-the-go, quick information about safe, fun biking for your family. The new Mini Guide is full of illustrations of family biking gear. It highlights important safety tips for families biking with children of all ages.

Free Download

Family Biking Mini Guide covers a broad range of information for people biking from pregnancy well into parenthood. We have tips on choosing the right gear and adapt to added weight for mothers-to-be. An overview of the kinds of gear available for pedaling your little ones around town. And we offer information on how to transition your children successfully to independent biking when the time is right.

We hope to build on the success of our original Family Biking Guide by offering this Family Biking Mini Guide as a resource for families in San Francisco and across the country. Please check out this updated, more accessible survey of everything you and the parents in your life may need to know about embracing the fun and freedom of biking with family.

Mark Leno: Longtime Member and Keynote Speaker

Posted on by Brian Wiedenmeier
Original image: Flickr/Kelly Huston

 

At this year’s 25th annual Golden Wheel Awards, we’re proud to welcome former State Senator Mark Leno as our keynote speaker. Mark has been a San Francisco Bicycle Coalition member for over 18 years. During that time, he has also served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the California State Assembly and the State Senate, before leaving office last year due to term limits.

During his time in the State Legislature, Mark fought for better schools and access to higher education, foster youth, a cleaner and more sustainable environment, single-payer universal health care, improved transportation, renewable energy, safe streets, and equal rights for all Californians. Earlier this year, he announced that he will run for Mayor of San Francisco in 2019.

25th Annual Golden Wheel Awards
Thursday, July 20, 6:30 – 9:00 PM
The Green Room, 401 Van Ness Avenue

Mark will share his thoughts on San Francisco’s transportation future and the role that bicycling will play in it. Be the first to hear from Mark on his vision for our city.

Reserve Your Tickets Now

Northridge to Heron’s Head: Riding with Bayview Youth

Posted on by Charles Deffarges

Last Saturday we packed up a truck full of freshly refurbished bikes and headed out for our latest Bike It Forward event. Our destination was the Northridge Cooperative Homes in Bayview/Hunter’s Point with whom we have partnered before for these great events.

For those unfamiliar with our Bike It Forward program, we team up with local community-based organizations to refurbish and distribute bikes to San Franciscans who will benefit most from free transportation. This time around at Northridge Homes, we focused on youth residents and organized a ride afterwards to look at nearby bicycle infrastructure and parks.

The day started out with our volunteers preparing 20-plus refurbished bikes to give out that day. Kids from the neighborhood started showing up as we put the last-minute touches onto the bikes including lights and locks.

Volunteer with Us

After we fit each kid for a bike and helmet, everyone gathered for a bicycle education course. As a part of every Bike It Forward event, we teach basic rules of the road, locking techniques, and signaling to make sure that all recipients have the knowledge necessary to go out and ride safely.

A new addition to our Bike It Forward program is a ride afterwards for all bike recipients to try out their bikes on their neighborhood streets. This is a great opportunity to fine tune the bikes and, more importantly, to highlight nearby bicycle infrastructure and destinations. With all of the kids excited about the new bikes, we set off towards Evans Street where we rode the bike lane while practicing our signaling.

Turning right onto Mendell Street, we ended up at Cargo Way and its two-way protected bike lane. There we stopped to talk about how different types of bike lanes affected how we felt riding in the street. When asked what would make the Cargo Way lane better, the perceptive kids pointed out the often broken fence and frequent potholes that need repair.

Despite the potholes, we made it to Heron’s Head Park with relative ease. There, we took in the beautiful views and reflected on the ride. All of the riders were surprised by how easy it was to get to the park, which many had only visited once or twice. All were full of smiles and planning to repeat the ride sometime soon.

We’re aiming to keep our momentum going through the remainder of 2017 and beyond, reaching as many folks as we can with the fun and freedom of biking. If you’d like to join one of our next Bike It Forward events, we welcome folks with or without mechanical skills to help us provide people across San Francisco the bikes and skills they need to start riding.

What Makes Bike Share Successful?

Posted on by Janice Li

In an increasingly congested San Francisco, we need to provide more transportation options that take people out of motor vehicles.

Bike share offers the convenience of biking without the hassle of worrying about locking and storage. Bike share pairs with transit like peas and carrots, making the first- and last-mile connection a breeze. In cities across the world, a robust and bike share system has led to a surge in people riding bikes and increased demands for improved bike infrastructure.

A successful, well-designed bike share system blends the fun and freedom that we know a bicycle provides with the convenience and availability of use. It opens the door to a new audience of people who either didn’t have access to bikes in the past or didn’t consider biking as a convenient option. The numbers are evident; over 1.5 million bike share trips were registered in May, alone, by New York’s system.

This means that even if you don’t ever use bike share and even if the system doesn’t directly impact your mobility, you still benefit. Whether it’s one less car causing congestion or one more seat open on Muni, a popular bike share system is good for San Francisco. And with more people biking, this will help spur infrastructure change that will make our streets more people-friendly for everyone.

But what makes a bike share system successful? The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition believes that bike share will only be successful if it’s truly accessible and affordable, with a ridership that represents the diversity of our city. This is why we’re proud that strides have been made to open up membership through the Bike Share for All program. With that said, we know the work must continue to ensure outreach and opportunities to connect with bike share grow.

Bike Share Updates

Join our mailing list for opportunities to help ensure the success of the Bike Share for All program and for updates as we ready for the re-launch of bike share next week.

Q&A with Tif Sippel

Posted on by San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
Guest post by Brett Thurber

 

A personal trainer by trade, Tif Sippel may not fit many peoples’ preconception of an e-bike rider. (Even less so, once you discover that she’s well on her way to becoming a firefighter.) But the 36-year-old does indeed ride a Faraday Porteur S, commuting from the Inner Richmond all over town for work and school. In fact, although she grew up in Illinois and Texas, and spent some time living in New York City, “it wasn’t till I moved to San Francisco that I found riding a bike to be the best way to get around.”

Brett: Lots of people would say, “San Francisco? Look at the hills!” Did you start out riding a regular bike?
Tif: When I first moved here, nine years ago, I borrowed a friend’s mountain bike and then I received a bike for my birthday — it had a three-speed internal hub and a steel frame. I didn’t know any better, so I was hauling ass around the city on this huge bike.

How did you end up switching to a pedal-assist bike?
I had purchased a scooter because riding to and from work on a standard bike while also trying to get workouts in was really exhausting. Having a heavy bag was also part of the problem. I leave the Inner Richmond at 5:30 in the morning and I’m not home till 7:00 at night. So I have to pack a lunch, I have to pack schoolbooks and sometimes the computer. The scooter was a great way to get around the city, but I still had to deal with parking permits and insurance. So I looked into electric bikes and then I stumbled upon The New Wheel’s website.

I think people who don’t know anything about pedal-assist bikes assume that if you ride an e-bike, you’re just not working.
It’s almost like the opposite happened. I got more fit having this bike. It’s about having more energy to do more things. I have one client, a person who bikes, who was just like, “Oh, you’re selling out.” No, girlfriend — I’m actually creating more diversity for my body because I’m not just doing this all day every day. That’s what I preach, movement diversity, which is exactly what this bike represents for me. Now I have the time, energy and space to do other active things that I like to do, like CrossFit or go to a dance class. It even gives more energy for my clients.

How do you choose your routes?
If it’s a route I haven’t done before, I use Google Maps — they have bike maps. What’s cool about having this bike is that sometimes I’ll challenge Google Maps. I’ll be like, “No, I’m actually going to take that hill that you don’t want me to take. I appreciate it, Google Maps, but I’m going to go up that huge 17th Street hill.”

Do you stick to the bike lanes or do you feel comfortable taking the full lane when necessary?
I tend to ride in the bike lane. When I don’t, I try to be really conscious about being a friendly rider and being fair. I’m tired of cars hating on bikes so hard, so I make an extra effort to make sure I’m not running a stop sign if there’s a car there. Actually, the electric bike helps me with that because it’s not so much of an effort.

If you could go for a bike ride with anyone, who would it be?
Two people. One is pertinent to now and one is always. Pertinent to now is the chief of the San Francisco Fire Department.

Why?
I just want to know about her life. I want to know about how she got to where she is, and what things were like for her. And then the other one would be Oprah. I mean, me and Oprah, climbing hills.

Does she ride bikes?
I don’t think she does. We could get her on an electric one.

Speaking of fighting fires, you’ll have a lot of gear to deal with, won’t you? Can you carry it on the Faraday?
That’s what I’ve been thinking about. I’ll have to call a car or something. The suit itself is 40 pounds — jacket and pants — and then I have boots and a hat and the stuff that goes under the suit, so it’s probably like 60 pounds in all.

You just need to get an electric cargo bike!
Oh, my God, that’s awesome—I could put a Dalmatian in the back!

Reshaping 20th Avenue

Posted on by Julia Raskin

San Franciscans deserve easy access to the incredible parks of the Outer Sunset by bike. That’s why we are excited that the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is kicking off planning to redesign 20th Avenue to be the preferred north-south connection for people biking between Golden Gate Park and Stern Grove. Can you stop by one of the two SFMTA outreach tables next week during evening commute hours to give your input?

I’ll Be There Tuesday

I’ll Be There Thursday

The Sunset is home to many families who use Golden Gate Park and Stern Grove as their own backyards. Safe access to the parks is critical for these families to feel welcome and comfortable biking with their children to the playground, to a picnic or to events and destinations within the parks. With crossings at Irving, Noriega and Taraval, 20th Avenue also connects to popular commercial corridors, and provides an important connection to Kirkham which is the key east-west corridor that people biking use to travel downtown.

Wide streets like 20th Avenue promote fast-moving traffic, and as the designated north-south bike route through the Sunset this street would benefit from traffic calming measures that prioritize people walking and biking.

If you can’t make it to either of the outreach tables, join us on a July 8 ride to look closely at ways to improve your ride on 20th Avenue. The ride will start in Golden Gate Park and end in Stern Grove. 

Sunset Survey Ride
Hoover Redwood Grove Picnic Area in Golden Gate Park
MLK Drive near Transverse Drive
Saturday, July 8 from 11:30 am – 1:30 pm

We’re Listening: Member Input and Our Next Strategic Plan

Posted on by SF Bicycle Coalition Board

As we develop our next five-year strategic plan, your San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Board of Directors and staff have been soliciting feedback and input from members.  We began by hosting a member open house on April 19 to collect input on the organization’s future direction. The open house invited members to add ideas on sticky notes to various broad categories. Members who weren’t able to attend the open house were encouraged to send their thoughts via email to the Strategic Planning Committee.

We received significant input from the open house and subsequent communication and have completed the large task of synthesizing the data. Three main themes emerged: advocacy, member engagement, and organization. Members put forth many great ideas under each theme, summarized as bullet points below.

Advocacy

  • Reduce transportation network companies’ (Uber and Lyft) negative impact on urban cycling;
  • Improve safety with more protected bike lanes and better street design;
  • Create better, safer infrastructure in marginalized communities;
  • Work with the police department, fire department, and the SF Municipal Transportation Agency on education around cyclists’ needs; and
  • Find ways to prevent bike theft.

Member Engagement

  • Get members more involved in advocacy and education;
  • Communicate more effectively with members; and
  • Solicit more member feedback and input on SF Bicycle Coalition activities.

Organization

  • Improve/change how the board is elected and run; and
  • Increase member involvement for organizational sustainability.

A visualization of all the input we received is below:

Following the member open house, the Strategic Planning Committee and board conducted over 40 stakeholder interviews and community listening sessions during the next two months. The wealth of data collected during the interviews and listening sessions will be combined with member input to draft our strategic plan in the coming weeks.

We’re not done listening to you. Please watch for a member survey coming soon and member forums to be held in July or August. We intend to finalize the Strategic Plan this fall to guide our work for the next five years. For more information on the strategic planning process, please visit the strategic planning web page.