Streetsblog San Francisco

Though it might sound incredible to San Franciscans who have followed bicycle issues for the past three years, not only are more bicycle infrastructure improvements coming, they might be better than anyone imagined. Streetsblog has learned that in addition to the lanes striped today on Mississippi and Howard and seven more bike lanes expected in the next few weeks, the MTA will install a separated bike lane on Market Street.

At a press conference tomorrow, Mayor Gavin Newsom and MTA officials will announce a number of "innovate design treatments" allowed under a judge's order issued last week, including plans to install safe-hit posts on an existing bike lane creating a physically separated lane on Market between 9th and 10th Streets. The posts are similar to the ones now in place in the bike lane at Market and Octavia. It was still unclear, however, if the project would include both east and westbound bike lanes, or just one.

"San Francisco's first attempt at a physically separated bike lane is a really great step forward. Separated bike lanes are a great way to get novice cyclists who are uncomfortable riding in traffic more used to riding on the street," said Marc Caswell, the SFBC's program manager. He said the SF bike lane will be similar to early physically separated bike lanes in New York City, which were improved under Janette Sadik-Kahn, Commissioner of the NYCDOT.

The protected bike lane will help eliminate conflicts between drivers and bicycle riders on that portion of Market Street where drivers often fail to respect the bike lanes. "A physically separated bike lane is a great way to make sure the bike lane is a clear and safe way to travel without any obstructions," Caswell said.

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San Francisco bicycle riders this morning let out a loud cheer, popped open a bottle of champagne and toasted the city's first bike lane in three years: a freshly painted sliver of Scott Street on the Wiggle between Oak and Fell that now serves as a left-turn lane for the thousands of daily commuters traveling by bicycle onto Fell Street.

"It feels really great to have some fresh bicycle paint down on the streets," said Andy Thornley, SFBC Program Director, who lit a cigar in celebration. "We have waited a long time and I think I speak for all bicyclists present and all those yet to bicycle in the city that this is an historic day."

The MTA paint crews found themselves caught up in the excitement of the moment on Scott Street, posing for pictures with bicycle activists and smiling and nodding at the thumbs up from passing cyclists in what Thornley described as "a little street party."

"You guys deserve this," said a member of the MTA paint crew who didn't want to be identified. "You've been waiting too long." He added that he was also a bicyclist but had been grounded by a recent injury.

Thornley said the left-turn bike lane on Scott will greatly improve safety for the daily throngs who ride the Wiggle. Indeed, within minutes after the fresh paint had dried, dozens of northbound bicycle riders began using the lane as if it had already been there.

"It's definitely the way that I move around that part of town so I'm looking forward to being more comfortable and dignified and having a more delightful ride through the Wiggle," said Thornley.

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San Francisco is about to get its first new bike lane in more than three years along with a colored bike box!  Progress has been long stalled by the injunction but the fact that the MTA is about to whip out the paint is cause for celebration, and the SFBC is planning two events to mark the occasion.

Tomorrow morning, crews will begin installing a new left-turn bike lane on Scott Street along the Wiggle. In addition, MTA crews will put in bike racks on Divisadero, on Grove at Pacific Primary School, and several other nearby locations. Sharrows will also be painted on a number of streets, and improved bicycle way-finding signs will go up, according to the SFBC.

The MTA is planning a press conference Thursday morning with Mayor Gavin Newsom and MTA Chief Nat Ford, and afterward crews will paint a green bike box where the existing bike box is on Scott, said MTA spokesperson Judson True. The press conference had been originally planned for tomorrow but was moved because of scheduling conflicts.

To cheer the new improvements, the SFBC is planning the following events tomorrow:

5:00pm - 7:00pm - Stop by an SFBC station (at Duboce and Market and at Scott and Oak) to learn more about the new improvements and hear about what's coming next

5:30pm - 8:00pm - Raise a glass and join us for a drink at the Duboce Park Cafe to celebrate these first of many new improvements to bicycling in San Francisco (SFBC members receive a 10% discount).

The improvements on Scott are among eight bicycle projects given the go ahead last week by a San Francisco judge,  who ordered a partial lifting of the bicycle injunction, but refused to allow the remaining 37 Bike Plan projects to move forward pending the outcome of a June hearing on the EIR.  True said the MTA plans to complete the eight projects within six weeks.

Updated 6:51 p.m.

One day after we asked when the bike box on Scott Street at Oak would reappear, lo and behold, it's back. It was apparently repainted sometime this morning. Tipster and Streetsblog commenter MichaelSF points out it appears longer. It's almost a full bike box but it's still not connected to the bike lane, like most bike boxes in other cities such Portland and New York.

MTA spokesperson Judson True says the agency plans to experiment with colored bike boxes "in the next few years."

See the before picture below the break.

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If you've pedaled through The Wiggle in the last few weeks -- as thousands of bicyclists do on a daily basis -- you've probably noticed the disappearance of what was a rare San Francisco bike box on Scott Street at Oak. The only other bike box is on 14th Street and Folsom. On Scott, the street recently underwent a repaving but crews haven't re-striped the bike box, which gives bicyclists a head start in front of a line of cars, and is designed to reduce bicycle-car conflicts, especially in areas heavily traveled by bicyclists.

Andy Thornley of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition points out they're not full bike boxes. In the case of Scott, it's really a quarter bike box, and a half bike box on 14th:

A full bike box would look like those in Portland, with colored pavement in the box (as well as color in the bike lane feeding in, and, if appropriate, color in the "receiving" bike lane on the far side of the intersection), "STOP HERE" marked on the pavement before the advance stop line, and a public education program to let everyone know what they are and how they're meant to be used.

Thornley explained the two bike boxes in San Francisco are an experiment, but it's unclear whether the MTA has any plans to turn them into full, colored bike boxes, or add more, once the injunction is lifted:

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When we wrote about the trial pedestrian plaza on 17th Street and Market Street that DPW expects to start this May, the story generated numerous doubts about how the city would create a successful public space out of a busy street abutting a gas station. 

As commenter Josh said, "This truly is a ridiculous idea! Why would anyone want to "enjoy" a small patch of cemented area that's filled with salvage yard leftovers while inhaling unhealthy fumes from not only the cars on the busy streets that surround the designated area but by the gas station?"

Though we can't make guarantees on a pilot project that hasn't been built, we thought we'd highlight some of New York City's temporary plazas and street treatments as best practice analogs, knowing our DPW and MTA are also looking to the Big Crabapple for inspiration. 

DPW Director Ed Reiskin explained to Streetsblog by email that his goal is to keep expenses low. "As for cost, it should be minimal, since materials cost should be close to zero," he said.  "There will be some labor cost to us and MTA to put up signs, transport and place materials, and install any pavement treatments and cuts."

In New York, even the "salvage yard leftovers" have become very nice public amenities.

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Lest it appear that Streetsblog doesn’t support bike-sharing in San Francisco, I should say from the outset that I love the successful bike-sharing programs that I’ve used, believe they are one of the more innovative new transit models available, and know that San Francisco is ripe for the roll-out of a large-scale program of its own.  But I am also among the large majority of Americans that Republican Pollster Frank Luntz found support infrastructure improvements and believe getting the job done right is more important than ribbon cutting and shovel readying.

Consider that a bicycle sharing program’s greatest assets are ubiquity and ease of use.  In Paris, Velib started with 10,000 bicycles at 750 stations, shortly thereafter jumped to 20,000 bicycles at 1450 stations, and is poised to add an additional 3,300 bikes at 300 new stations in the Parisian suburbs.  The city of Paris keeps all the revenue from the small annual fees for membership to the program and daily use fees paid by tourists and those who don’t join annually and the advertising firm JC Decaux operates the system and pays out an additional $4.3 million.

When I rode Velib for the first time in Paris shortly after its launch in 2007, the system was intuitive and the bicycle stations were everywhere (approximately 300 meters between each).  As a tourist with minimal French, I had no problem activating the system with my credit card and pedaling my way through the lovely streets of that fair city.  Over the course of three days I never went underground, never took a taxi and got some good exercise in the process.

My hopes were high when Mayor Newsom announced that San Francisco would join the nearly 100 cities around the world that have started bike sharing.  But now they are dashed. 

How grand a system will San Francisco have?  50 bikes.  To the tune of $1 million for start up and $500,000 annually for upkeep!

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Though Superior Court Judge Peter J. Busch ruled the MTA will not get an immediate exemption to the bike injunction to remove the eastbound segment of the bike lane at Market and Octavia because he didn’t think an “adequate case has been made that there's a public safety crisis,” when the hold on the bike plan is lifted as early as this spring, the agency will likely try to remove the lane anyway.  

So will the changes improve safety for bicyclists?  That answer depends on how you look at it and highlights a recurring international debate among transportation engineers and cycling advocacy groups: Are segregated bicycle lanes safer for cyclists than shared lanes?

The MTA argues its plan will increase safety, citing among other examples a report from Copenhagen, Denmark, which details equivalent lane markings to the current Market/Octavia design and the proposed design (PDF, pg 30):

One type continues all the way up to the intersection, the other type stops at a distance from the intersection. Experience shows that the shortened type of cycle track results in the fewest casualties, whereas cyclists feel more secure on the type that continues all the way up to the intersection. Both types may be supplemented with a blue marked crossing, which significantly improves safety.

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