Streetsblog San Francisco

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

The weather for Bike to Work Day couldn't have been more agreeable and huge numbers of cyclists took to the streets throughout the Bay Area, early indicators show. In San Francisco, cyclists set a new record for Bike to Work Day, accounting for 75 percent of the morning roadway traffic on Market Street, a one-third increase over last year. Our Streetsblog Flickr pool is seeing some great photos come in from Oakland and San Jose, as well as numerous energizer stations around San Francisco.

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Some bicycle advocates have called 2010 the year of the bike. Across the country, cities are seeing growing numbers of people biking, and in the Bay Area tomorrow, that pedal power will be on vivid display for Bike to Work Day. 

Last year in San Francisco, the SFMTA counted a record 200,000 cyclists for Bike to Work Day and considering the exciting changes that have been happening on the city's main thoroughfare, Market Street, in the last few weeks, those numbers are likely to dramatically shoot up Wednesday. The SFBC is planning 27 energizer stations across the city. Mayor Gavin Newsom and nearly every member of the Board of Supervisors plans to take part in VIP rides.

“Scores of people will be experiencing the comfort of bicycling in the newly separated and now green Market Street bike lane for the first time on Bike to Work Day,” said Renee Rivera, acting Executive Director of the SF Bicycle Coalition. “We are thrilled to have Mayor Newsom leading these exciting biking innovations on Market Street, the city's busiest biking street. This is a great first step towards a separated bikeway the full length of lower Market Street.”

Energizer stations are also being set up all over the Bay Area. You can find your nearest energizer station here. The Bay Area Bicycle Coalition has been working on helping to organize Bike to Work Day events in the Bay Area's nine counties.

“Bicycling is growing in popularity all over the Bay Area and we’re expecting hundreds of thousands of people to choose to bike to work this year,” said Andrew Casteel, regional coordinator for Bike to Work Day in the Bay Area. “Biking to work is a fun and easy way to get in shape, save money and help the environment. Bike to Work Day is the perfect time to start riding your bike for everyday transportation."

The Streetsblog crew will be out tomorrow documenting Bike to Work Day but we encourage you to send your photos to our Flickr pool. John Hamilton, our Bay Area Streetfilms producer, will be using some of the photos for a Streetfilm on Bike to Work Day that you'll see on Streetsblog tomorrow evening. So send in your photos as soon as you can and have a great Bike to Work Day! 

Many bicycle advocacy organizations will point out that 40 percent of trips in urban areas areas are 2 miles or less, the perfect distance for bicycling, yet nearly all of those trips are taken by car. Couple that with the environmental costs to the planet of oil consumption, the expenses accrued with driving, including rising fuel prices, and the epidemic of obesity, increased rates of diabetes, asthma and heart disease, particularly acute in cities, and it makes sense on so many levels to encourage physical activity as part of daily mobility.

To this end, CLIF BAR and Co., based in Berkeley (soon to relocate to Emeryville), has joined the Alliance for Biking and Walking to promote the 2-Mile Challenge, a campaign that raises awareness about how many of the short trips we take by car could be replaced by walking and biking.

Starting this week, participants can sign up and pledge support for one of three teams benefiting three non-profits, including The Alliance for Biking and Walking, Trips for Kids, and the Alliance for Climate Education. CLIF BAR is donating $25,000 to each of the non-profits and then putting another $25,000 down to the team that gets the most points based on participation by the public at the end of October.

Points can also be earned by registering for a team and linking personal Facebook accounts to the 2 Mile Challenge site, issuing bike-riding challenges for yourself and friends, logging each trip completed, and tracking trips for consecutive weeks.

"What I like about the program is that it makes it accessible for everyone, that everyone can do it, and educate people on what the issue is, as well as gives them a vehicle for tracking their own miles," said Kevin Cleary, President and COO of CLIF BAR, who noted that he used to drive one mile to the grocery store near his home before the company started promoting the program.

The Alliance said in a press release that it will use the $25,000 grant from CLIF BAR to support its Winning Campaigns Trainings to train campaigners for biking and walking. The grant will also assist in the development and launch of the Guide to Funding Biking and Walking Projects, an upcoming Alliance publication.

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In honor of Bike Month this year, Mayor Gavin Newsom, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and local businesses have teamed up with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) to promote shopping by bicycle in various neighborhoods across the city. As part of the I Bike SF campaign, participating businesses in Hayes Valley are offering discounts throughout the month of May to cyclists who bring in their bicycle helmets or bike lock keys when they shop or eat out.

According to Mari Hunter, an intern who organized the campaign for the Mayor's Climate Protection Initiative, I Bike SF is modeled on a national program called Bicycle Benefits.

"The idea simply is to encourage cycling and support local businesses," said Hunter, who added that the focus for the Mayor's Office was to make the program as easy as possible for businesses and to have them benefit through a boost in sales.

Tim Papandreou, the SFMTA's Deputy Director for Planning, said beyond meeting the city's goal of encouraging cycling, I Bike SF would help reduce congestion in business corridors where parking is at a premium. Papandreou said Hayes Valley was a perfect pilot location because it is relatively flat, close to Market Street and similar bicycle corridors, and because the neighborhood is congested with cars looking for parking.

For Elizabeth Leu, who owns the children's store Fiddlesticks on Hayes Street, the idea of promoting bicycles makes sense for San Francisco, along with starting the pilot in Hayes Valley, a strongly proud neighborhood that has voted to forbid chain stores.

"I think it's spot on to be rewarding bikes and people who bicycle," said Leu, who's offering a 15 percent discount on non-sale items to bicycle riding customers. She was doubtful, however, about the impact it would have on business. "I don't know about the redemption. 
The jury is still out on whether bikers will be taking advantage of the program."

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San Francisco's annual Bike to Work Day drew a record 200,000 bicyclists this morning, according to early estimates, making it the most successful bike to work day since it began 15 years ago. Crowds of cyclists took advantage of the SFBC Energizer Stations to get food and coffee and make new friends in what has become the most exciting and politically important year for bicycle improvements in the city.

Eight supervisors, including car-free Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, and other dignitaries and agency staff, rode from locations around the city to City Hall, where they held a press conference to call for quick action on the Bicycle Network once the longstanding injunction is lifted. 

"I'm so proud to say our movement both politically and at a grassroots level is stronger and more successful than ever, and I think it's fair to say is one of the strongest advocacy movements in the city today," SFBC  Executive Director Leah Shahum told the crowd, urging city leaders to move forward. "They all know this: we are never satisfied. So what we've accomplished up to today does not compare to what is coming."

She added that the city will have to shift priorities and take street space away for bicycles if real change is going to come: "If we're serious about our climate change goals, if we're serious about our public health goals, if we're serious about lessening congestion -- and we want this city to be affordable for families and folks of all income levels -- we have to make this a bike friendly city.  It's not a choice."

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I'd like to give a plug to our bicycle-riding friends at Orange Photography, who are graciously offering free portraits of bicyclists for Bike to Work Day tomorrow:

We’re always psyched about it since 80 percent of our studio bikes or takes alternate forms of transit and we’re right down the street from Mike’s Bikes too. We’re offering free portraits for bicyclists and their bikes this day.  Just stop by the studio and bring your bike up and we’ll take your portraits.  This will be happening all day so you don’t have to do it just during your commute (10am-7pm).

Another plus: It's on a bicycle route. And the Orange photographers are pretty talented. Get my portrait taken by the pros? I'm there!