Eyes on the Street: Church Street at Market Gets Three New Bike Racks

Photos by Bryan Goebel.

The SFMTA has installed three new bike racks on the southeast corner of Church Street at Market to help accommodate the throngs of bicycle riders who often park their bikes illegally on the Muni island rails. I snapped these photos of the new bike racks this afternoon and one thing rang clear: it's not enough.

Damon Curtis, the Bike Plan implementation manager for the SFMTA, said the racks were installed based on requests from businesses. However, the area was a pressing priority for the SFMTA last January, when the agency asked for injunction relief to install bike racks on Church following complaints from disability rights advocates about the transit island bike parking.

"We know the demand continues to grow and as we move forward that could be an area we can look at for corrals and things like that," Curtis told Streetsblog.

Andy Thornley, the SFBC program director, hopes the SFMTA will install more bicycle parking in the area, and be sensitive to the concerns.

"Apart from the intrinsic demand of the businesses, the important thing to be aware is that there has been complaints and concerns voiced by folks in the disabled community about that Muni platform encroachment," said Thornley.

Curtis said the SFMTA has installed nearly 300 new bike racks since the partial lifting of the bicycle injunction, and had a backlog of 900 requests at the time. The agency is working as quickly as it can to meet the demand, he said.

Two new bike racks on Church St. near Market.

On weekend nights, and even during the week, bicycles are a common sight on the Muni island because of the lack of adequate bicycle parking in the area. The area is home to many thriving restaurants and bars.

A new bike rack on Church in front of Chilango, which requested it.