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Word On The Street
“Having a bike - in particular a cargo or kid-carrying bike that can do the most to replace a car for many trips - not on street level near the street is liking keeping a car on its side and having to ask neighbors to help roll it over every time you need to use it.”
– Todd Edelman In response to "Planning Commission Approves Higher Bike Parking Requirements"
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noname
Fact. Her words are pretty offensive on many levels.
And I guess understanding how mass transit works isn’t a a required skill to be a board member.
in response to Will the BART Board Take the Sensible Step of Lifting Bike Bans?
murphstahoe
+1 – when you make the big time and get a publicly elected position, you have to grow up
in response to Will the BART Board Take the Sensible Step of Lifting Bike Bans?
MrEricSir
Based on the way she brings up stereotypes as though they were relevant to a public policy discussion, I’d say whether or not she rides Bart is the least of our problems.
in response to Will the BART Board Take the Sensible Step of Lifting Bike Bans?
noname
Is it me or does Murray’s comments make it sound like she’s never ridden BART?
in response to Will the BART Board Take the Sensible Step of Lifting Bike Bans?
foo
One thing I found that helps with lots of bikes on a BART car is to stack them against the bar where the bike silhouette thing is, sort of like on Caltrain. That way you pack in a bunch of bikes in a small area. I was going always offer other bikers to stack theirs on mine when they get on.
in response to Will the BART Board Take the Sensible Step of Lifting Bike Bans?
mikesonn
“Stop lights, autos, pedestrians, cyclist and the time it takes for typical bus riders to get off and on the bus including some with bikes are never factor into any argument.”
This comment made on post about removing autos from the equation. TEP will address stop distance (dwell time) and signal timing. But you are a native, so you much know what is best.
in response to Red Transit Lanes on Church Have Made Muni Faster and More Reliable
ANative
Amazing blog we have here.
in response to Red Transit Lanes on Church Have Made Muni Faster and More Reliable
Andy Chow
Downhill part is challenging because people will bike at different speeds and that not all the bikes have the same braking ability (not really an issue on the uphill part). Cyclists needs room to maneuver to compensate for the inconsistent braking ability. Secondly, there’s need for room in the parking area for drivers to stop and wait for other cars to back out. I don’t think it is a good idea to mix faster moving bike traffic with stopped car traffic waiting for a parking space.
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Anonymous
I think you rebut your own position with the following:
“SMTA = Bunch of confused idiots believing they’re dumb ideas will really work”
in response to Red Transit Lanes on Church Have Made Muni Faster and More Reliable
ANative
Apparently you missed the point.
in response to Red Transit Lanes on Church Have Made Muni Faster and More Reliable
April
Great job on this article, Andrew!! Thanks so much for your commitment to expanding cycling opportunities in San Mateo County. I’m happy to see that Supervisor Pine is riding along with you.
in response to As Bike to Work Day Booms, Some San Mateo County Cities Lead the Way
Chris Tran
You have a good point but I still think it should be buffered not barricaded. Or make the bike lane wider.
I just pictured myself going downhill at the age of 60 and I definitely don’t want a car behind me.
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
murphstahoe
That Potrero Hill View article is a case study for tearing down the 280 stub back to Chavez.
in response to Today's Headlines
Anonymous
it’s partly because it’s flat but I agree, SOMA is usually hellish on a bike, or walking for that matter. I would say south of market and most of D6 have enormous potential for biking as they are mostly flat with wide streets. A protected bike lane on every street would be necessary to realize that bike potential, as the streets have too much high speed vehicle traffic to really be comfortable for 8-80 even though physically they present little challenge.
in response to Today's Headlines
Mario Tanev
SOMA is the most bike-able neighborhood? I don’t mind biking on Oak pre-bike lane, but SOMA genuinely terrifies me. That bike score is instantly untrustworthy for me.
in response to Today's Headlines
dat
WHO IS that HANDSOME DEVIL in the black jersey with the black beard in the middle of the photo?!?!
in response to As Bike to Work Day Booms, Some San Mateo County Cities Lead the Way
casey
Regarding the Santa Cruz Highway 1 bridge, after the floods of ’82 Santa Cruz used computers (don’t laugh, this was newfangled in the ’80s) to model what happens when redwood trees pile up on a bridge in a flood. They’ve replaced all of the bridges under city control with a design they think will survive another big flood, but getting CalTrans to actually admit that their one bridge in town is a disaster waiting to happen is impossible.
Santa Cruz doesn’t want a wider bridge there, CalTrans does. Flood Control (read that as “not having the bridge fall down”) really is Santa Cruz’s major concern, but that isn’t a big enough reason for CalTrans.
I think they’ll suck it up and fork over the money.
in response to Today's Headlines
Jym Dyer
@5c6e74f9c4be18e3e0b82b7e5f4c701f:disqus – Sheesh yourself, you completely missed the point. Nevius quoted the SFBC and a bicyclist but completely ignored Folks for Polk. This makes it seem as if it’s bicyclists vs. plain ordinary regular people, a narrative you seem to have bought into with your wording about “both” sides, one of which is “the pro-bike side.”
in response to SFMTA Drops Protected Bike Lane Proposals for Most of Polk Street
Donkey
They should install these bike counters at red lights to show how many bicyclist run them and how much revenue the city is missing out on from the traffic violations. If the revenue was then captured, we could then install these on every block of the city!
in response to Market Bike Counter: 3,231 Cyclists in a Day -- And That's an Underestimate
friscolex
You had me at “perfect pavement”.
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
peternatural
I obviously do have kids. I obviously don’t have a car. I obviously live in SF and have for many years. I’m obviously saving boocoo cash monies, not to mention time spent circling for parking. You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.
in response to Planning Commission OKs Car-Free Housing at Fulton and Gough
Giorgio
Copenaghen counts 35 thousand per day in the busiest bike lane (Norrebrogade), but this is a good start for SF!
in response to Market Bike Counter: 3,231 Cyclists in a Day -- And That's an Underestimate
Walk Eagle Rock
I could be mistaken but it looks like the median could be narrowed and the traffic lanes in general be narrowed to accommodate buffered/protected bike lanes in each direction.
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Anonymous
The Transbay Terminal is going to be much more technically difficult to dig and design than Geary, Van Ness, or 19th Ave would be. Downtown SF has 50 floor buildings plus dense underground utilities infrastructure. As does Oslo and New York. They figured it out, and SF has budgeted what I described above for the Transbay Terminal.
in response to Small Business Commissioner: San Francisco Needs More Parking Garages
Anonymous
I’m rather hoping the Doyle Drive project runs out of money and they finish it up with the single span. It’s practically as wide as the bridge itself, which will always be the bottleneck, so why double it?
in response to Today's Headlines
Anonymous
It’s a bit late in the day to offer design suggestions, but–looking at the top picture there– wouldn’t it have been nice to slide the entire parking lot a few feet to the left (east) and have the bike lane continue straight along the shore, fully protected? The road warriors will take the road anyway, as they don’t need a bike lane, while the 8-80 crowd would probably appreciate the greater separation.
But I nit-pick. I’ve gone down once already, and it’s really great.
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Filamino
“Chinatown, with locals avoiding it all together.”
Disgustingly racist. Just shows the complete ignorance of not understanding the dynamics of Chinatown and the community.
in response to SFMTA Drops Protected Bike Lane Proposals for Most of Polk Street
Filamino
I saw nothing biased about Nevius’ article. He states the facts – both sides have legitimate concerns about the existing plans and there will have to be a difficult decision to be made which one to choose. He is doing what professional journalists should be doing: stating the facts and letting the readers decide their opinions. Just because he didn’t take the pro-bike side doesn’t make it an anti-bike article. Sheesh.
in response to SFMTA Drops Protected Bike Lane Proposals for Most of Polk Street
Anonymous
The problem with all these variable cost pricing + underground proposals is that the demand we currently see is a result of the price being artificially low. If you actually instituted variable cost pricing, prices would be fairly low and there would be no shortage, so the idea of embarking on a massive underground construction project would be ridiculous.
It’s as if I was giving away free burgers day after day, and finding that people were lining up around the block for them. So I decide that the demand for burgers is so strong that I’m going to build a top-notch high-volume kitchen, and I’m going to charge $10 a burger to pay for it. And when I’m done most people say “well I’ll just get a $5 burrito instead,” and my giant shiny new kitchen leaves me bankrupt.
in response to Small Business Commissioner: San Francisco Needs More Parking Garages
Andy Thornley
My advice is to get out and ride on it once or twice and see what you think about the quality of the bike space, and then ponder how to get it closer to 8-to-80 grade for biking. SFMTA & DPW have done a swell job with the materials and conditions they had to work with, there may be more awesome ways to set it out, but the bicycling environment on this roadway has gone from D to B+ or better (confident bike riders will grade it higher, I think, and be grateful for the perfect pavement as much as for the stripes). Having ridden it a couple of times I’m very pleased, the buffered bike lane and smooth pavement makes the northbound trip much more mellow — pedaling uphill may not be any flatter, but it’s a lot more pleasant. 8-to-80? With that incline the road will always be somewhat challenging for bicycle traffic, but a reasonably fit adult can make it up the hill and the bike space is pretty good (it had been nerve-wracking/terrifying). When I was pedaling up the grade from Safeway with a basket full of groceries, a couple of kitted-out roadie dudes steamed up behind me and had no trouble passing, thanks to the wide bike lane and buffer. SFMTA will be adding plastic bollards as they generally do in bike lane buffers these days, I’d like to see those bollards nearer to the travel lane than to the bike lane (so those roadies can keep passing me in comfort).
Southbound downhill past Louis’ and the Cliff House the bike lane does drop and there’s a single shared travel lane and a wide shoulder, for me it felt more natural to ride in the wide shoulder (braking and alert to taillights) than bobsledding out in the travel lane (with sharrows in it), but then I’m a guy with a basket full of groceries. Of course that wide shoulder has the back ends of cars parked diagonally; generally it’s best not to bring bike traffic too close to the back ends of parked cars (and the parking in front of the Cliff House really can’t be removed at this point in California history, check back later), hence the sharrows in the travel lane. This is actually less 8-to-80 than the uphill experience and parents may still be taking their kids (and adult tourists taking themselves) downhill via the sidewalk, but with that steep winding grade up and down it’s never going to be JFK Drive or the Yosemite Valley loop. Still, it’s pretty good, go out and ride on it and see what you think, and bring a camera so you can be ready to catch a million-dollar sunset photo, pinky orangey scarlet sky backdropping a beautiful international bikeway in our backyard . . .
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
FL
Chiu has to listen to everyone involved because that is his job. The merchants have brought up their legitimate concerns about the plan to him and the SFMTA and so has the bike/ped safety advocates and other people involved in Polk Street. Now they are trying to find a plan that everyone can get something out of it. There is nothing wrong with consensus. Not everyone can have everything their way.
in response to Bike to Work Day at City Hall: Lots of Pro-Bike Talk, Few Real Commitments
SF Native
You obviously don’t have kids…
in response to Planning Commission OKs Car-Free Housing at Fulton and Gough
SF Native
Sure … Great for 20 something tecchies .. Not great for families. Families continued to be squeezed out. Families need actual cars – not just car share.
in response to Planning Commission OKs Car-Free Housing at Fulton and Gough
murphstahoe
Because going downhill you are going faster and need more of the road to maneuver your turn. A barricaded lane would be a big problem, at speed you can’t make a turn in such a small slot.
I have gone down Clipper many times and have yet to touch the bike lane. I need the whole lane. And that’s perfectly reasonable as I’d be going the speed limit.
This downhill corner is part of Escape from Alcatraz. That ought to be interesting. EFA used the 2 center lanes. Trying to do so again would leave no room for cars.
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Anonymous
Thank the baby Jebus. I used to take the uphill in the lane, but had one too many instances of cars whipping around the corner at speed that for the last few years I have taken to using the extra wide sidewalk across the street. I know it is technically “illegal” but it beats the hell out of getting killed.
Unless there are at least regularly replaced soft-hit posts, you can bet this will be cut into by the cars. Look at the wear on the buffer zone where JFK peals off of Kezar Drive if you have any doubts.
Thanks for the improvement SFMTA.
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Anonymous
Two solo motorists, 30+ bus passengers.
Cry me a fucking river.
in response to Red Transit Lanes on Church Have Made Muni Faster and More Reliable
Anonymous
From the article:
The SFMTA will install plastic posts in the buffer zones “later in the construction period,” according to the agency’s Livable Streets Facebook page.
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Peter Smith
would have liked protected lanes from the get-go, but we’ll take paint for starters.
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Chris Tran
Another bike lane gets the dust (see last photo).
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Chris Tran
I just don’t get why bikes have to share road with cars going downhill. Going downhill could be just as dangerous as going flat or up. What if a car is driving too close when the cyclist falls over at a faster clip, what do you think it would happen afterward?
This will never get 8-80 to ride. What a shame!
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Anonymous
Why is the sfmta continuing to put down bike lanes with neither green paint nor protective posts? Is this part of an immutable plan or is there room to modify it? Anyone know?
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
ANative
All they had to do was move the 22 bus line into the center and they would already have saved some time with the 22 and J line. Most drivers hate getting caught up behind a bus stopped at an island. That alone would have been enough. Changing and coloring lanes throughout the city means nothing and accomplishes nothing. Muni has always been late at least for the past 20 years. Stop lights, autos, pedestrians, cyclist and the time it takes for typical bus riders to get off and on the bus including some with bikes are never factor into any argument. Or what about when a bus stops in the middle of the street at a bus stop instead of actually stopping in the bus stop and I mean fully in the bus stop not at a huge angle leaving the back end of the bus blocking a lane and holds up traffic for blocks while another bus line behind it gets caught up in that same traffic 5 blocks down?????? That’s besides the fact that they are always cutting back on their lines. THIS IS A METROPOLITAN CITY!!! You will always have buses,pedestrians,cyclist, cars trucks and deliveries. SMTA = Bunch of confused idiots believing they’re dumb ideas will really work. Things are just going to get worse for everybody and Muni will always been running late if not worse. Start with your drivers and work from the inside out. Not from the outside in.
in response to Red Transit Lanes on Church Have Made Muni Faster and More Reliable
Elliot Schwartz
It’ll be interesting to see if drivers cut into the buffered area or bike lane on the blind curves. If so, hopefully the buffer can be upgraded with a concrete curb.
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Dan
Mike Guingona- Are there plans to add bike lanes on the one section of Bayshore that is under Daly City control? Please carry the Brisbane work on down south.
in response to As Bike to Work Day Booms, Some San Mateo County Cities Lead the Way
Mark Dreger
Looks like a trip to the Cliff House is in order!
in response to SFMTA Installs Bike Lanes on Point Lobos and Northern Great Highway
Walter Schirral L L
why not put the bike lanes on Larkin St? It is not quite as flat, but much quieter, wider and could more easily sacrifice a lane if necessary for bikes.
in response to Debunking the Misinformation Propagated By "Save Polk Street"
Mario Tanev
The trouble is that what I hear from engineers is that a traffic light may slow down Muni further because a traffic light is less flexible (even with transit priority) than a stop sign, considering there are two lines crossing. The right answer as you say is to remove cars from those intersections, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.
in response to Red Transit Lanes on Church Have Made Muni Faster and More Reliable
Anonymous
Njudah, you do great work w your blog and advocacy, but you are out of line here. If people start cursing each other, many will stop posting thoughts and the discussions and blog will suffer. Restraint is a public virtue in this situation.
in response to Small Business Commissioner: San Francisco Needs More Parking Garages
Pontifikate
Glad to see this nightmare intersection is finally being dealt with. But there’s still no traffic light at Church and Duboce and people and cars constantly play chicken with MUNI, the result being slowed down trains. I’d like to see a light and even better, no cars in that particular (small) area.
in response to Red Transit Lanes on Church Have Made Muni Faster and More Reliable
Pontifikate
How about indemnifying the DPT parking officers to ticket moving vehicles going through lights and stop signs, distracted drivers, etc.?
in response to Red Transit Lanes on Church Have Made Muni Faster and More Reliable