Streetsblog San Francisco

Across the city this morning, kids and their parents hopped on bikes to get to school, many of them breaking out of a car commute routine that's no fun for either party.

At Sunset Elementary School, one of dozens of schools in San Francisco to participate in Bike to School Day today, and one of just five to receive a Safe Routes to School grant, many of the children seemed eager to make it more than a one-time event.

"As I biked, I only thought of the good things that have happened to me," said Audrey, Sunset's Student Council President. "Let's just say I felt everything that I wouldn't feel when I'm stuck in the car."

That line elicited laughter from her classmates and teachers alike, but Dylan Riley, a fourth grade teacher who helped coordinate the program and takes his kids to school by bike regularly, said the Safe Routes to School program and Bike to School Day are helping kids to take bicycling more seriously.

"People are embracing this -- they're realizing cars aren't the only way to get around," said Riley. "By exposing kids to this, they take it seriously."

Over 120 kids -- at least a full third of the school -- biked to Sunset Elementary today, doubling the number that participated in Bike to School Day last year. Sunset's principal Sophie Lee said the Safe Routes to School grant allowed the school to teach all fourth graders about bicycling safety, which helped turn out even more kids this year than last.

"It just really helped the kids to be excited about riding," said Lee.

Fourth graders get three lessons on bicycling safety, including a final hour-long lesson on their bike with YBike program staff and Riley. For some students, that hour is spent learning the basics of riding, while more advanced riders get training on how to deal with more complex situations on the road.

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The City of San Francisco is still barred from installing any new bike infrastructure because of a three-year-old injunction, but that's not stopping the San Francisco Unified School District from installing bike racks at the city's schools. The school district isn't covered by the injunction, and it's using several sources of funding to add desperately needed bike racks to schools like Balboa High, where these new racks were spotted just yesterday by health education teacher Christopher Pepper.

Nik Kaestner, Director of Sustainability for SFUSD, explained that the district now adds bike racks whenever it upgrades schools as part of a renovation bond program. "2002-2003 Prop. A bonds are being used to renovate our buildings in response to a lawsuit. The main focus is ADA accessibility and fire/life safety," said Kaestner. "There's some money put aside for greening schoolyards on elementary school campuses, and then there's also some money usually left over. At some point the decision was made that one thing every school would get is bike racks."

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All morning I've been asking myself (and some others) why kids riding bicycles to school is a pressworthy event. Don't kids always ride bikes to school or have we become so car-dependent that even this sancrosanct part of being young and carefree is a thing of the past?  Unfortunately, the latter is the case, as no school in San Francisco sees even 5 percent of walking and bicycling trips to school.

Today's inaugural Bike to School Day is the start of a shift for the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to promote cycling as a healthy and environmentally sound way to get to school.

"The school district has recently started promoting biking to school as a way to commute efficiently, however they haven't done an actual event to promote biking to school before this," said SFBC Program Manager Marc Caswell.  "Today is the day we're actually going to reward students that want to ride to school."

Nik Kaestner, Director of Sustainability for the SFUSD, said the district is now focusing on expanding bicycling through its Safe Routes to Schools educational efforts.

"The more that this becomes commonplace, the more we change culture, the more people will come around," he said. "I think that’s the goal around the district. If you're just throwing facts at them, I don't think that makes a difference. I think it needs to be cool."

Kaestner relayed an anecdote from this morning at Roosevelt Middle School, where a kid came up to him after seeing the bagels and juice that kids who cycled enjoyed and said he needed to ride next year. "It's nice to see the kids that are biking are being rewarded for doing it and other kids are taking notice."

When asked why the walking and bicycling numbers are so low in San Francisco, Kaestner suggested that many parents fear for their child's safety on the street.  "There's a general fear of what might happen to their kid if they walk or bike. They think putting them in steel boxes is safer."

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Sustainable school transportation officials and advocates have celebrated the installation of the first new bike racks in the San Francisco Unified School District in many years.  

Francisco Middle School, one of eight schools to receive a new rack, played host to the event.  Francisco students in the Presidio Community YMCA’s after-school bike program, a partnership with the Municipal Transportation Agency and San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, treated guests to a demonstration of safe bicycling and intersection negotiation. 

“We’re all about action here,” said Principal Judith Giampaoli.  

6th-grader Juan Carlos Ramirez said the new racks meant he could now bike to school and not have to worry about his bike getting “messed up.”  Ramirez likes biking to school because it’s “healthy, I get good exercise, and it’s also fun.” 

“There’s no pollution,” added his bike club friend Abdul Moimm, “and you don’t have to worry about things like traffic.”  Both students built the bikes they ride, with a little help from instructors in the Presidio Community YMCA’s after-school bike shop class.

The new racks were funded by a $7,500 grant from the Mervyn L. Brenner Foundation, which was secured by the SFBC.  Though the number of schools receiving a new bike rack represents just a fraction of the total number of schools in the district, SFUSD officials say the new racks are a key component of a new district policy to promote healthy lifestyles by encouraging more students and faculty to bike to school. 

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