Making Protected Bike Lanes on Market Street a Reality

Posted on by Julia Raskin

We are one approval away from getting protected bike lanes on Market Street from Octavia to the Wiggle. Write a letter today in support and urge the City to approve this project — and push for more.

It’s been a few years in the making, but after walking tours, community meetings and an open house last year, the Upper Market Street project is up for approvals in the next month. The full package of improvements features protected bike lanes in both directions from Octavia to the Duboce Bikeway, along with a landscaped median, an improved bike crossing and bike turn box at Octavia, pedestrian safety islands and bulb-outs throughout.

Write a Letter of Support

We’ve heard time and time again about the chronic double-parking in bike lanes, a well-known issue for Upper Market. Your support for protected bike lanes will use smart design to directly address this issue, but we know more needs to be done. If you want to see protected bike lanes extend further up Market, we encourage you to write a letter to new District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy and the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA).

Use the template included in the email and take a moment to personalize the message with your experience of biking on Upper Market and the need for protected bike lanes.

To: MTABoard@sfmta.com, Jeff.Sheehy@sfgov.org
CC: julia@sfbike.org
Subject: I Support Protected Bike Lanes on Upper Market

For more information about this project, take a look at the SFMTA’s website here. Have more thoughts? Drop a line at julia@sfbike.org.

Time to Fix 17th & Church

Posted on by Janice Li

Historic rails are a signature of San Francisco’s urban landscape, but when it comes to biking, they can prove to be a tricky obstacle.

Where 17th Street meets Church Street, several rail lines come together, forming a complicated intersection that is difficult to navigate for people biking between the Mission and the Castro. This location has a history of crashes, and the City is now putting their attention here to find a solution, focusing on the section between Church and Sanchez Streets.

SFMTA Open House for 17th & Church
Wednesday, Feb. 22 from 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Mission Police Station, 630 Valencia St.

Recognizing a need to explore ways to improve this spot, the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is looking to neighbors and people regularly biking here for your input. The SFMTA has studied a variety of potential changes, ranging from a change in the bike route to adding a protected bike lane.

Do you bike here regularly and want a better way to navigate the rails? Come to this community meeting led by the SFMTA and see which options you prefer.

Towards a Better Future: Meet Member and Climate Rider Amy Jo

Posted on by Gina Schumacher

Meet Amy Jo Johnson, a member since 2008 and also a first-time Climate Rider on the SF Bicycle Coalition’s team. Riding along the Central Coast is her way of getting more involved with the SF Bicycle Coalition. She is charged up and ready to make a statement, raising money and awareness for sustainability, the climate and active transportation.

SF Bicycle Coalition: What does this year’s Climate Ride mean for you personally?

Amy Jo: I want to show the world what side of history I’m on through my actions, not just my words. I believe participating in the Climate Ride is a very big way to do that!

What inspired you to sign up this year as a first-time rider?

First and foremost, the mission statement of Climate Ride is something I completely agree with. With the current disturbing movements of anti-science, anti-social welfare and climate change denial, I feel now more than ever I need to give back to my community by supporting sustainable transportation and organizations fighting climate change. Also, I just had a big milestone of a birthday, so I want to challenge myself by doing something completely new (and potentially scary) this year! I had been wanting to try multi-day rides anyway, so joining Climate Ride was the perfect solution.

Editors: Pssst – Support Amy Jo’s ride with a $40 donation in honor of her recent 40th birthday!

What have you heard about the ride?

Amazing support, amazing food, lasting friendships, picturesque miles. My team has multiple repeat riders who are super stoked, so for me that’s a strong testament to how great this ride is!

What are you most excited about?

I am excited to meet other like-minded cyclists — I don’t have many friends who bike! — and to challenge myself physically, mentally and emotionally. If I had it my way, I would do nothing but ride every day. Climate Ride will make that dream a reality for at least a little while.

What are you hoping to learn?

I hope to cultivate my activist chops by fundraising for a cause while learning more about what it takes to do long-distance bike touring.

What should fellow SF Bicycle Coalition members know about Amy Jo?

I started commuting by bike in San Francisco about 10 years ago after not riding since I was a child in rural Wisconsin. At first I rode mostly out of necessity, and it was sometimes tough learning to navigate dense urban streets, but because nothing else brings me happiness like being on a bicycle I kept it up. As my bike commutes evolved to metric century rides, I knew I was deep in a love affair that will last for the rest of my life. I am grateful to the SF Bicycle Coalition for helping to make my city more welcoming to people biking. I doubt I would have been as encouraged to ride more if not for them.

Fundraising deadlines are fast approaching and the SF Bicycle Coalition Team needs your support! Keep an eye out for updates about our first team fundraiser in March. Get to know the 2017 riders supporting the SF Bicycle Coalition and join us on a training ride.

Want to get involved right now in the fight for Climate Justice? Support Amy Jo’s efforts today!

Automated Speed Enforcement: One More Tool for Safe Streets

Posted on by Janice Li

What if we had the solution to a problem, but couldn’t use it? And what if that problem was affecting hundreds of lives every year, leading to serious injuries or worse?

We join our partners throughout the city in offering our unwavering support for Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE), with leadership from Assemblymember David Chiu and support from Assemblymember Phil Ting and Senator Scott Wiener. Together, they penned a bill which would authorize this known solution to the leading cause of serious collisions: speeding. This is made possible with support from San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and SF Mayor Ed Lee, whose Executive Directive on street safety specifically highlighted ASE as a City priority. 

As a pilot program in San Francisco and San Jose, this bill would authorize the use of camera and radar technology to automatically enforce speeds on streets with a history of high speeds and serious crashes. This program includes strong measures to ensure that key concerns around privacy, equity and due process are addressed.

Over the last two years, San Francisco has unified in support of ASE. From the Board of Supervisors, to the Health Commission, to our city’s Vision Zero Coalition has urged legislation to permit this transformative tool for safe streets in our city. ASE has proven successful in cities like Washington, D.C., where traffic fatalities dropped 70 percent during its use. D.C. is one of over 140 communities around the United States where ASE is reducing collisions, but state legislation is required for San Francisco to use this tool as well.

Are you with us? Read our letter of support here and sign on to add your name.

Be Part of the Solution

Real problems have real solutions, and with your help, we move closer to achieving Vision Zero.

From Interim to Long-Term: Meet Ana Vasudeo

Posted on by Paloma Rezende

Ana Vasudeo started as our Interim Program Director in August 2016. Recently hired as long term, Ana is excited to see our programs grow in 2017. We caught up with her to learn more about the job and why she dedicates her time to our mission.

SF Bicycle Coalition: Why did you join the staff of the SF Bicycle Coalition?

Ana: I joined the team because I’ve always admired the SF Bicycle Coalition’s efforts to push things through the political process in San Francisco. As the former director for the Blue Greenway, I made sure that I partnered with the SF Bicycle Coalition in addressing transportation equity issues facing our southeastern waterfront.

I was also really impressed by the SF Bicycle Coalition’s programmatic work. The Programs team is in many ways the entry point for our movement to promote the bicycle for everyday transportation. I am impressed by our bicycle education work and how we have adapted our curriculum for diverse audiences. Our Safe Routes to School program works with families to make sure children can bike safely to schools. As an environmental planner and a San Francisco native, I’m excited to work at an organization that takes climate change mitigation seriously and that is dedicated to addressing transportation equity in our city.

Can you describe your role as a program director and how that connects to the SF Bicycle Coalition’s mission of promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation?

Our Programs team makes it easy for everyday residents to feel like they can be a part of our growing movement through inclusive bicycle education. Similarly, through our Bike It Forward program, we’re supporting low-income residents by distributing bikes and providing an affordable transportation alternative. My job is to ensure the financial stability of our programs, expand our base of community partners and to support our talented programs staff at executing their work.

In your brief time on staff, have you had any unforgettable experiences with people who bike that inspired or surprised you?

Yes! I’ve had many. My most memorable experience came at my first Bike It Forward event at Northridge Cooperative Housing. For this bike build, we had a handful of new bikes from a special donation. We typically only distribute reclaimed bicycles from City agencies at these bike builds, but I was excited that we had a couple of new ones to share. One of the recipients of a new bike was a woman who had recently undergone surgery for breast cancer. She wanted to start cycling more and to live a healthier life.

At the end of the bike build, a teenage boy about her same height arrived and discovered that there were no more bikes left in his size. He was about to leave when the woman who had received the new bike decided to give her bicycle to the boy. The boy was so happy that he was beaming. There are so many examples of selfless acts during our bike builds, and I’m excited to work more closely with our partners to grow this program.

What is it about the SF Bicycle Coalition’s work that resonates with you?

The fact that we lower the barriers for cycling resonates with my personal belief that to change behavior about our transportation choices, we have to make it easy for people to ride their bicycles. I’m relatively new to biking myself and I’m a mom to two beautiful little boys. Working here has empowered me to ride my bike more with my family. My five-year-old loves when we ride in the street. I use our bicycle education curriculum every day when I teach my own children about bicycle safety. I’m excited that we’re working hard so that all San Franciscans feel empowered to commute by bike.

Are you excited about our programmatic work making biking easier and more accessible for more San Franciscans? We have an array of volunteer opportunities for you to directly support this work and get more people enjoying the fun and freedom of biking in our city.

SoMa Member Committee: The Next Step for Safe SoMa Streets

Posted on by Charles Deffarges

Our 2017 New Year’s Resolution: Win the safe streets so sorely needed in SoMa.

Thanks to your call for safe streets, near-term protected bike lanes are a real possibility all over SoMa. Key decision-makers have heard our call for safe streets: At a recent meeting, SF’s Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin publicly made this commitment for near-term improvements for Folsom and Howard Streets.

Folsom Street, Howard Street, Townsend Street and 11th Street are all candidates for protected bike lanes in the next year. Not only will these improvements make our streets safe in the near-term, but they will help push forward and inform our long-term vision for SoMa.

With so many projects on the table, we have an unprecedented opportunity to have huge impact on our streets. With strong momentum coming out of 2016, now is the time to get involved and drive the change you want to see in SoMa.

Join Our SoMa Committee

Our SoMa Committee is a group of passionate members who get together to organize around what changes they want to see in our streets and how to achieve them. Join us on Feb. 15 at our fourth meeting to talk about near-term protection options that can be implemented quickly and how to get them in the ground.

SoMa Member Committee Meeting
Wednesday, Feb. 15 from 6:00 – 7:00 pm
SF Bicycle Coalition, 1720 Market St.

Shine on, San Francisco

Posted on by Libby Nachman

As the days get longer and your commute gets brighter, we are pleased to celebrate wrapping another season of Light up the Night, our annual bike light distribution program.

Thanks to our generous sponsor Bay Area Bicycle Law and support from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, our amazing member-volunteers installed nearly 1,000 front white lights and red rear lights on the bicycles of people riding at night.

We host this event every winter, starting in November when Daylight Savings Time ends and continuing through January when the days start to get longer. This season, 47 SF Bicycle Coalition member-volunteers donated over 160 hours of time to install lights at five different pop-up locations around San Francisco. Light recipients signed a pledge to use their lights at night and received educational materials about riding legally in the dark.

We want to give an enormous thank you to the amazing member-volunteers who helped make the event a success. We couldn’t do it without you. There are plenty more ways to get involved as a volunteer, so check out our upcoming projects to sign up.

SF Composite Mountain Biking: Getting More Girls on Bikes

Posted on by Anna Gore

Our Women Bike SF program is all about supporting and encouraging more women, trans* and femme people biking in San Francisco, and one of our fabulous members is helping lead the way in doing just that. Heather Pugh (member since 2010) is a coach for the SF Composite Mountain Biking Team who is supporting more high school age girls to get rolling in the program. Learn more about the SF Composite Mountain Biking and see how you can help encourage more young girls to get on wheels below.

Guest Blog by Heather Pugh

The SF Composite Mountain Biking Team is an all-inclusive group, all genders, races, religions, socioeconomic backgrounds and riding abilities are welcomed, and is made up of students from local San Francisco High Schools. The team rides and races as part of the broader NorCal High School Cycling League. To ensure that every student has an opportunity to race, the team doesn’t have “try-outs” or “bench” anyone, and there are scholarships and loaner bikes for students interested but not financially able to commit. If a student is interested in riding, the team will support them to make it happen.

The SF Composite Mountain Biking Team is committed to getting more girls involved. Within the Northern California League only about 20 percent of the athletes are female. Working with female student-athletes over the last couple of years, we’ve seen how mountain biking helps girls to develop leadership skills, build confidence and increase self-esteem. It requires mental strength to perform; there’s just no getting around it. Being on a team with coaches and fellow riders provides a safe environment to work on an array of things in the psychological and physical arenas. Female student-athletes involved in this sport get recognition and support from their peers, both female and male, which lends to improving self-image, too.

It’s important that the sport of mountain biking gets more women involved. There are terrific, positive male coaches with loads of experience, but women coaches are especially important in working with female teens because they are the role models that the girls can look up to. We know that female coaches can encourage girls to do things by demonstrating and showing in a way that’s like, “Hey, I’m a girl, too. We can sweat, climb steep mountains and conquer just like anybody else can – and we will.” The SF Composite team currently has three driven female coaches who are there to support all girls who join the team.

You can help more girls get involved. Most of the girls on SF Composite have found their way to the team through word-of-mouth, be it through their sibling’s involvement or another rider that has invited them to try it out. The team welcomes girls with no previous mountain biking experience to show up and encourages them to commit to racing a whole season. It’s incredible to see that determination, and a joy to help foster their dedication and obtain personal success.

If you know a high school student that might want to join the team, encourage them to come and ride with the SF Composite Mountain Biking Team! The team usually practices in Golden Gate Park during the weekdays and does longer rides in the Marin Headlands and around on Mt. Tam on the weekends. We have a lot coming up. There’s a team campout in mid-February in Bolinas, and we’re attending races in Monterey, Folsom, Lower Lake, and Petaluma from February through May.

Email me at hp@norcalmtb.org and let’s talk about upcoming rides, races and other events. Both students and parents are welcome to ride along to see what the team does!

Want to support our Women Bike SF program, and help more girls get rolling? Become a member today!

Get Ready for Bike & Roll to School Week

Posted on by San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

San Francisco’s 2017 Bike & Roll to School Week is April 17-21. Sign up your school before April 1!

The annual celebration of fun, healthy ways to arrive at schools across our city is coming up, so it’s time to see how and where to get involved. Bike & Roll to School Week welcomes anyone and everyone with wheels! It’s time to get out your bicycles, skateboards, wheelchairs, rollerskates and strollers. Any San Francisco school, from pre-k to high school, is invited to participate in the fun. Last year over 80 schools and thousands of children were a part of Bike & Roll to School Week. Don’t miss out.

This is a great opportunity to try biking to school, if you haven’t done it before. Everyone from students, to teachers and even baby siblings are invited to join in. Not quite sure how to ride, or aren’t that confident? Don’t let that hold you back. There will be a series of free Family Biking Workshops, hosted by Safe Routes to School, at playgrounds around you. These workshops will be from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm, at the locations listed below.

Feb 11 BAYVIEW: Bret Harte Elementary. Fun for the family. Healthy snacks provided
Feb 26 BALBOA PARK: Denman Middle School/hosted by SF Shared Schoolyard Project. Fun for the whole family. Free lunch.
Mar 11 PORTOLA: E.R. Taylor Elementary School
Mar 18 WESTERN ADDITION: Rosa Parks Elementary
Mar 25 Location TBA
Apr 8 SUNSET: Lawton Alternative School
Apr 15 Jose Ortega Elementary: Safety Fair hosted by Assemblymember Phil Ting
Apr 17-21 San Francisco Bike & Roll to School Week
Apr 22 CHINATOWN: Joe Di Maggio Playground
May 20 RICHMOND DISTRICT: Argonne Elementary

There will be goody packets with free giveaways for our rolling students at participating schools, sponsored by the SF Safe Routes to School partnership. For event organizers and hosting schools, there are prizes for you too!  

This is an awesome week-long event that you want your school to celebrate for your entire community’s health, and all you have to do is sign up! Parents or staff are invited to choose the best day for your school to partake in Bike & Roll to School Week. The Registration deadline is April 1, so sign up today to see some wheels at your school.

Why Bulb-Outs?

Posted on by Julia Raskin

A crucial safety improvement is being added to streets on scores of projects all over San Francisco, but the importance and impact of this easy-to-add treatment isn’t perfectly clear to everyone.

You’ve probably heard about bulb-outs. Also known as curb extensions, bulb-outs align the curb with the parking lane to increase the visibility of people on the sidewalk and to reduce the distance to cross the street. “Bulb-out” is an umbrella term that can include gateways to neighborhood streets, mid-block street narrowing or boarding areas for public transit.

But why are they so popular?

    1. Bulb-outs slow down traffic. Curb extensions decrease the width of streets and can serve as a visual cue for people who drive that they are entering a neighborhood street or area. This helps people at the wheel slow down and become more aware of their surroundings, especially when turning.
    2. Increased visibility of people on sidewalks: Extending the sidewalk further into the street increases the visibility of people on the sidewalk and crossing the street.
    3. Decreasing crossing distances: Bulb-outs reduce the distance needed to cross, which creates more time for signal changes that prioritize people walking. Along with traffic signal timing that gives people walking a head start, bulb-outs can be a big improvement to the visibility and safety of people crossing streets.
    4. Providing more shared public space: More room on the sidewalk allows more room for neighborhood amenities like benches, drinking fountains, bike parking, trees and rain gardens — all great ways to beautify the neighborhood. You can spot a good example at 24th and Harrison streets in the Mission.
    5. Improving bus travel times: Extending the curb aligns the bus stop with the parking lane and allows buses to stop and board passengers without leaving the travel lane. This helps buses move faster by decreasing the amount of time lost when merging in and out of traffic.

You can spot bulb-outs all around San Francisco, for example on Valencia between 15th and 19th streets and along Fell and Oak streets between Scott and Baker. More are in the works with street improvement projects like Geary Bus Rapid Transit, the Masonic Avenue Streetscape Improvement Project and the Polk Street Project. We are excited to see more of these safety measures around the city to prioritize people walking and biking on the streets.

This SF bulb-out shows how they extend the sidewalk and create more space for bike parking and other amenities.

This SF bulb-out shows how they extend the sidewalk and create more space for bike parking and other amenities.

Along with our 10,000-plus members, the SF Bicycle Coalition is campaigning for safety improvements for people walking, biking and driving in every neighborhood across our city. Join our community of members supporting this advocacy and elevate the voice of people committed to more bikeable, livable streets.