Streetsblog San Francisco

Oakland’s official Bike to Work Day after-party kicked into high gear in Old Oakland last night. Over 600 people converged to dance, eat, drink, mingle, and just take in the atmosphere from the middle of the street.

“We saw people of all ages out enjoying bicycle carnival rides, great local food, and the company of our vibrant East Bay cycling community,” said Renee Rivera, executive director of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC), which spearheaded the event. “I look forward to the event growing into an Oakland institution as more and more people bike everyday here in the East Bay.”

Raffle drawings and award presentations punctuated the ceremony.

The EBBC recognized this year’s Bike-Friendly Businesses, Clif Bar, Sun Light & Power, and Alta Planning & Design, for taking that extra step to motivate their employees to ride to work.

“I wish we could make 30 awards instead of three,” lamented Rivera. “So many businesses in the East Bay realize that cycling to work makes their employees healthier, happier, and more productive.”

Berkeley Assemblymember Nancy Skinner presented Alameda County’s Bike Commuter of the Year award to sixth grader Jason Hollick, already a successful cycling advocate among his friends and family.

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Cycling San Franciscans have plenty to be happy about on the streets this Bike to Work Day, with new and greened bike lanes, new bike parking, sharrows, bike boxes, and traffic signals to make riding a little easier.

“This is by far the most work we’ve done in a span of time like this,” said the SF Municipal Transportation Agency’s (SFMTA) Mike Sallberry of the Sustainable Streets Division, which has been at the forefront of innovative bike improvements in the city.

“San Francisco has a lot to celebrate on this Bike to Work Day as more people than ever are bicycling,” said Leah Shahum, executive director of the SF Bicycle Coalition, which has been hard at work over the years pushing city agencies to improve the streets for bicycling.

“We know that [the city] shares the goals of making it easier to move around – more accessible, more affordable, more business-friendly and family-friendly,” she said.

Here’s a summary provided by the SFMTA of the improvements that riders can see on the ground today since the bike injunction was lifted in November 2009:

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Bike to Work Day is underway in Alameda County, and this year’s riders already broke last year’s record by 12.3 percent.

The Cities of Emeryville and Berkeley saw the largest increases, with 15 and 14 percent increases respectively. At one point, a quarter of street traffic at Sproul Plaza in the heart of Downtown Berkeley was bicycles.

Even Oakland, with a mere eight percent increase, set a new city record for its Bike to Work Day turnout.

The East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC) organized 79 energizer stations throughout Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. The stations dotted major corridors and destinations, offering a place for cyclists to stock up on coffee, snacks, tote bags of coupons and maps, and information about local bicycle organizations. Several stations adopted themes to give their patrons an extra boost of energy and excitement on their commute.

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In the strongest showing of political support ever for bicycling in San Francisco, Mayor Ed Lee, ten of the eleven members of the Board of Supervisors, and a range of city officials pedaled to City Hall with advocates and thousands of commuters on the 17th Annual Bike to Work Day. Commuters pedaling along the city’s most important route, Market Street, were greeted with new green paint and protected bike lanes thanks to SFMTA crews who have been racing to fill in the gaps.

“We have more to celebrate than ever before in the history of Bike to Work Day,” said San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) Executive Director Leah Shahum, “from the beautiful new green separated bikeways on Market Street, to dozens of new bike lanes in every neighborhood throughout the city, to hundreds of new bike racks, to dozens of new on-street bike parking corrals.”

Riding in on some of the city’s major routes, supervisors proclaimed their support for safer streets and expanding the city’s bikeway network. Mayor Lee announced that a separated bikeway would be in place on John F. Kennedy Drive by the end of the year, filling a crucial segment on the popular Bay to Beach Connecting the City route being pushed by the SFBC.

“I want to see that 100 miles from the Bay to the ocean, north and south, painted by the year 2020 to see everybody ride the whole city and connect up either way using their bikes,” said Mayor Lee, who rode to City Hall from Golden Gate Park via the Wiggle with Shahum, SFMTA Board Chair Tom Nolan, and a convoy of others.

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Ten of eleven members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Mayor Ed Lee rode bikes to City Hall this morning, and voiced their support for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the SFMTA and the vision for future bikeways in San Francisco. We’ll have full coverage soon, but in the meantime, here are some photos and audio from this morning’s City Hall rally, which begins with SFBC Executive Director Leah Shahum.

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One of my favorite things about Bike to Work Day as an everyday bicyclist is picking my free tote bag at one of the convenient energizer stations. In San Francisco, 6,000 bags are ready to be handed out tomorrow by SFBC volunteers, 50 of whom spent a recent day stuffing them with all those resourceful goodies.

For a comprehensive rundown of Bike to Work Day activities all over the Bay Area, check out Streetsblog reporter Aaron Bialick’s post from yesterday. And, of course, wherever you are in the Bay Area, we’d love to hear your stories and publish the best photos of all those beautiful people heading to work. Please add your photos to our Flickr pool, Tweet ‘em, or send them to tips@sf.streetsblog.org. We’ll have full coverage tomorrow.  Happy (almost) Bike to Work Day!

Bicycle coalitions around the Bay Area will be rolling out the red carpet for bike commuters for the 17th annual Bike to Work Day (BTWD) this Thursday with energizer stations, commuter convoys, after parties, and other fun events. As cycling continues to grow throughout the Bay Area, bicycle advocates and city officials are expecting it to be the biggest Bike to Work Day yet.

Here’s a round-up of what’s going on around the Bay on Bike to Work Day this Thursday, May 12:

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SFMTA crews continue laying out the green carpet on Market Street in time to welcome the thousands of bike commuters expected on the 17th annual Bike to Work Day May 12. The improvements will help invite first-time riders to embrace the bicycle as their regular choice for commuting to work.

Bike lanes were greened on the block between 8th and 9th Streets yesterday, and crews said they’re on their way to filling in the gaps all the way down to Octavia Boulevard in time for the event.

Crews have also installed green bike boxes and highlights at bike lane merges on Lower Market Street in past weeks. They also expect to implement a particularly innovative upgrade that would add a green rectangles underneath the sharrows at Van Ness Avenue guiding riders through the interchange.

The turnout of new riders is expected to continue its strong growth over the past few years. Thirty three percent more people biked on Market Street between Bike to Work Day 2009 – 2010, bolstered by ongoing improvement efforts like reducing automobile traffic.

See more photos and a video from last year’s event after the break.

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Mark Fiore, this year's Pulitzer Prize winner for Editorial Cartooning and the first to win for animated cartoons, recently provided this gem. Joe Commuter tries to explain to an alien visitor how mobility works on Earth and how convenient our cars are with their fuel made from "dinosaur squeezin's." With more than a few jabs at BP and the Gulf Disaster, Fiore does a great job dissecting our phenomenal reliance on petroleum. Though the alien doesn't know much about cars, he does suggest riding a bike to work instead. Higher life form indeed!

h/t Streetsblog NYC